\ 


LIBRARY 


44  4* 


tT h t n  1ms-  i* a t  So “* * ** ** 

Mcllvaine^  J  •  H.  8815-1897. 
The  tree  of  the  knowledge  oi 
good  and  evil 


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THE 


TREE  OE  TEE  KNOWLEDGE 


OF 


GOOD  AND  EVIL 


BY 


J.  H.  M’lLVAINE. 


ssm  sia  din^n 

ITT  /‘“II  *  I”  V  *  I 

“ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.” 


NEW  YORK: 

PUBLISHED  BY  M.  W.  DODD, 

BRICK  CHURCH  CHAPEL,  CORNER  OF  PARK  ROW  AND  SPRUCE  ST., 

Opposite  the  City  Hall. 


JV1DCCCXLVII. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1847,  by 

JOSHUA  H,  r  ILVAINE, 

the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Northern 

District  of  New  York. 


ROBERT  CRAIGHEAD,  PRINTER, 
112  FULTON  STREET. 


PREFACE. 


The  writer  of  this  little  volume  would  gladly  apologize  for  its 
publication,  but  he  well  knows  that  the  only  apology  which 
can  be  satisfactory  must  be  found  in  the  book  itself ;  that,  if  it 
be  not  found  there,  it  were  vain  to  offer  it  here.  Yet,  perhaps,  it 
may  be  of  advantage  to  know  something  of  the  character  and 
object  of  the  following  pages  before  they  are  read. 

To  some  the  views  presented  in  this  brief  treatise  may  bear 
an  appearance  of  originality  to  which  they  are  not  entitled  ; 
others  may  be  offended  by  a  seeming  novelty  in  that  which  is  not 
new.  For  they  exhibit  those  events  in  the  Scriptural  history  of 
man  which  are  connected  with  the  fatal  “  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil,”  not  merely  as  facts,  but  also  as  facts  which  are 
immensely  significant.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  is 
hardly  any  commentary,  ancient  or  modern,  in  which  it  is  not  as¬ 
sumed  that  most  of  those  events  have  a  symbolical  and  significant 
character.  Every  Christian  child  is  taught  to  regard  the  curse 
pronounced  upon  the  serpent  as  a  symbol  under  which  is  set  forth 
God’s  judgment  upon  “  that  old  serpent,  that  is  the  devil and 
under  which  is  given  the  first  promise  of  redemption  through  the 
“  Seed  of  the  Woman.”  In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  is 
made  to  justify  upon  acknowledged  principles  this  way  of  view¬ 
ing  those  events ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  vindicate  their  claim 
to  be  facts  which  actually  occurred  as  they  are  recorded. 

But  this  little  volume  is  principally  the  fruit  of  an  earnest  de¬ 
sire  to  relieve  the  minds  of  sincere  people  from  difficulties  in 


IV 


PREFACE* 


respect  to  some  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Word  of  God— difficul¬ 
ties  from  which  the  writer  himself  has  greatly  suffered,  and  from 
which  so  many  suffer  in  this  age  of  rationalistic  and  infidel  phi¬ 
losophy.  This  he  has  sought  to  do,  not  by  explaining  them 
away,  but  by  exhibiting  as  clearly  as  he  could,  the  principle  by 
which  they  are  to  be  justified  as  mysteries.  The  fundamental 
idea  of  all  the  views  presented  is  that  the  wisdom  of  man,  as  a 
criterion  of  distinction  between  good  and  evil,  is,  of  itself,  fool¬ 
ishness  ;  and  that  the  Wisdom  of  God  alone  is  true  wisdom.  But 
in  order  to  set  forth  and  illustrate  this  truth,  it  was  necessary  to 
discuss  other  subordinate  topics,  each  of  which  is  intended  to 
have  a  practical  moral  and  spiritual  effect  of  its  own.  Indeed  it 
is  the  hope  of  the  writer  that  the  book  may  be  judged  by  its 
spirit  rather  than  by  the  intellectual  form  in  which  that  spiiit  is 
embodied. 

If  then  the  reader  has  ever  found  himself  embarrassed  by  the 
Scriptural  use  of  types  and  symbols  ;  if  it  has  ever  occurred  to  him 
that  the  account  of  a  “  talking  snake”  in  the  temptation  of  man, 
is  an  improbable  story;  if  the  blasphemy  of  the  infidel  sneeiing 
at  the  account  which  God  has  given  of  the  sin  and  fall  of 
man,  has  ever  disturbed  him ;  if  the  mystery  of  the  atonement, 
made  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  Innocent  for  the  guilty,  has  caused 
him  to  offend  ; — perhaps  upon  these  and  other  points  he  may  find 
some  relief  from  the  following  pages.  And  if,  on  rising  from 
their  perusal,  he  sees  more  clearly,  and  feels  more  deeply,  than 
before,  that  his  own  views  of  things  are  to  be  thrown  away  as 
folly,  and  those  which  God  gives  in  his  Word  to  be  adopted  as 
the  right  ones  in  their  stead  ;  that  the  law  of  God  is  holy,  just 
and  good  ;  that  the  practical  wisdom  revealed  through  the  con¬ 
science,  distinguishing  between  right  and  wrong,  is  paramount 
over  all  other  forms  of  the  wisdom  and  prudence  of  man  ;  that 
the  Eternal  Spirit,  in  his  power  and  agency,  is  a  “  very  present 
God,”  upon  whom  he  is  dependent  in  a  most  vital  sense  ;  that  all 
earthly  and  visible  things  are  unsubstantial  and  fleeting  shadows 
compared  with  the  substantial  being  and  eternal  permanency  of 
the  unseen  and  spiritual  things  of  the  kingdom  of  God ;  that  the 


PREFACE. 


V 


mutual  relations  between  the  parent  and  child,  and  of  marriage, 
are  hallowed,  purified  and  exalted  in  his  eyes  ;  that  children  are 
to  be  trained  up  in  the  submission  and  obedience  of  faith,  reve¬ 
rence  and  love,  and  not  in  that  of  sight  and  reasoning  ;  that  “  the 
carnal  mind”  is  an  accursed  enemy  of  God ;  that  the  chastise¬ 
ments  of  labor,  sorrow  and  death  are  holy  things,  to  be  submitted 
to  in  penitence  and  in  faith ;  that  the  atonement  of  Christ  is  the 
only  salvation  for  him ;  that  he  must  be  crucified  with  Christ  in 
order  to  live  and  reign  with  him  ;  that  his  own  strength,  or  the 
obedience  of  his  own  agency,  is  utterly  in  vain  to  save  him  from 
the  curse  and  power  of  sin ;  that  the  agency  and  obedience  of 
Christ  in  and  for  him  are  all-sufficient  to  restore  and  perfect  his 
spiritual  life,  and  to  bring  into  him  an  “  everlasting  righteous¬ 
ness  — if  he  finds  any  of  these  effects  produced  upon  his  mind 
and  heart,  let  him  give  the  praise  and  the  glory  to  Him  whose 
blood  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin. 


May  3,  1847. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/treeofknowledgeoOOmcil 


CONTENTS, 

4 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF  SYMBOLS 

CHAPTER  II. 

OF  THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  WORD  OF  GOD 

CHAPTER  III. 

OF  THE  SYMBOLICAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCRIPTURAL 
ACCOUNT  OF  THE  SIN  AND  FALL  OF  MAN 

CHAPTER  IV. 

OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN 

*  •  • 

CHAPTER  V. 

OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN 

CHAPTER  VI. 

OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN 

CHAPTER  VII. 

OF  MARRIAGE 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OP  PARADISE 

CHAPTER  IX. 

OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT 

CHAPTER  X. 


PAGE 

1 

10 

22 

30 

40 

49 

G2 

7£ 

100 

11 1 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1  A  1 

OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES  .  .  •  ' 

CHAPTER  XII. 

OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT  .  .  •  HjO 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN  .  •  •  *  'a 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN  ....  ^0 

*  CHAPTER  XV. 

91  0 

OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS  .  .  •  ' 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE  .  .  •  ^29 


r 


t 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF  SYMBOLS. 

Every  form  of  religious  belief  that  has  ever  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  world  has  expressed  itself  in  sensible 
representations.  The  Hindoo,  the  Egyptian,  the 
Greek,  the  Mohammedan,  and  the  Christian,  all  alike, 
have  set  forth  the  mysteries  of  their  faith  and  life  by 
means  of  symbols.  From  what  has  this  fact 
arisen  ? 

A  shallow  and.  sensual  philosophy  attempts  to  render 
an  account  of  this  universal  phenomenon  by  the  sup¬ 
position  of  priestcraft.  It  gives  for  the  object  of  the 
symbols  of  religion  the  veiling  of  the  truth  from  the 
masses  of  the  people,  that  the  power  of  superior  in¬ 
telligence  might  be  enjoyed  exclusively  among  the 
initiated.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  symbols  have 
been  perverted  to  serve  this  purpose.  Rut  it  does 
not  follow  that  they  have  no  higher  origin  than  the 
knavery  of  priests,  and  no  better  use  than  to  keep 
the  people  in  ignorance  and  awe.  Where  they  have 
been  thus  perverted,  it  has  been  by  the  abuse  of  the 
principle  from  which  they  arise,  and  which  has  its 
seat  in  the  very  nature  and  constitution  of  man. 

For  the  life  of  man  is  constituted  in  the  synthesis 

1 


% 


2 


OF  SYMBOLS. 


or  union  of  a  spiritual  and  a  material  nature.  In  like 
manner  it  is  found  to  be  a  fact,  that  whatever  ad¬ 
dresses  man  with  life  and  power  is  also  constituted 
of  what  may  be  called  body  and  soul,  or  form  and 
substance,  or  letter  and  spirit.  Body  without  soul, 
form  without  substance,  letter  without  spirit,  is  dead 
for  him — powerless  over  his  heart  and  life.  No  less 
is  spirit  conceived  of  without  the  letter,  substance 
without  form,  soul  without  body,  or  any  manifesta¬ 
tion  whatever,  dead  for  man.  It  is  a  lifeless  abstrac¬ 
tion. 

For  this  reason  it  is  that  purely  philosophical  sys¬ 
tems  have  always  been  so  powerless  to  affect  and 
mould  the  life  of  the  human  race.  Plato,  no  less 
than  the  more  profound  and  metaphysical  Bramins, 
gives  us  only  science  without  life.  For  this  reason, 
when  Jehovah  would  affect  the  will  and  life  of  man 
with  power,  his  Spirit  assumes  a  form,  a  sensible 
manifestation,  as  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  in  the 
burning  bush,  as  Jehovah  between  the  Cherubim, 
whose  form  was  light,  and  as  Immanuel,  God  with  us, 
in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  very  nature  of  man  re¬ 
quires  that  the  Truth  should  become  incarnate  in 
order  to  reach  him  with  power,  and  become  life  to 
his  soul.  For  this  reason  also  it  was  necessary  that 
the  Church,  which  is  now  the  body  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  the  world,  should  never  for  one  moment  be¬ 
come  extinct,  otherwise  a  new  incarnation  would  be 
necessary  to  restore  it  to  life.  For  the  truths  of  the 
Word  of  God,  no  less  than  other  ideas,  are  always 
found  to  be  powerless  over  the  heart  of  man  where- 


OF  SYMBOLS. 


3 


soever  the  Church  has  ceased  to  be  a  body  animated 
by  them.  Each  member  of  the  Church  was  intended 
to  be  a  living  word  of  God,  an  epistle  of  Christ, 
through  whom  his  perfections  should  be  manifested 
to  the  world  in  life  with  power. 

Out  of  the  feeling  of  this  lifeless  nature  of  mere 
ideas,  however  true  and  just,  arises  a  universal  desire 
in  man  to  give  some  sensible  expression,  some  body- 
ing-forth,  to  whatever  lives  and  moves  within  him. 
From  this  come  gesture  and  action  in  speaking. 
When  we  speak  in  earnest,  with  feeling,  we  are  not 
satisfied  with  words  alone.  We  would  express  what 
we  feel  to  the  eye  as  well  as  to  the  ear.  Ideas  and 
emotions  thus  expressed  have  a  life  and  life-giving 
power  for  others  unspeakably  greater  than  anything 
that  can  be  found  in  mere  words.  Moved  by  this 
desire  the  true  artist  toils  with  sublime  devotion  to 
give  a  form,  a  sensible  manifestation  to  the  ideas  and 
emotions  of  beauty  with  which  he  feels  himself  to  be 
filled  and  inspired.  Thus  comes  into  existence  an 
Iliad,  a  Phidian  Jupiter,  a  Venus  di  Medici,  a  Stras- 
burg  cathedral. 

Nor  can  any  idea  or  emotion  which  is  living  in 
man  rest  satisfied  until  it  either  finds  itself  reflected, 
or  reflects  itself,  in  some  outward  manner.  Not 
being  able  to  find  this  reflection,  nor  allowed  to  ex¬ 
press  itself  externally,  it  soon  dies.  He  who  denies 
to  himself  all  expression  of  falsehood  soon  loses  the 
desire  to  deceive  however  strong  it  may  have  been. 
He  who  restrains  impure  ideas  and  feelings  from  all 
possible  expression  and  act,  soon  finds  them  perishing 


4 


OF  SYMBOLS. 


out  of  his  heart  and  mind.  The  love  of  God  not  be¬ 
ing  permitted  to  go  out  at  all  in  acts  of  religious  wor¬ 
ship,  the  love  of  our  neighbor  imprisoned  in  the  heart, 
if  that  could  be,  must  soon  perish. 

Whatever  there  may  be  in  man  which  craves  no 
outward  expression,  which  moves  not,  is  already 
dead.  It  is  because  the  religious  ideas  of  the  deist 
are  dead  and  powerless  over  his  heart  and  life  that 
they  can  be  satisfied  without  any  expression,  any 
bodying-forth,  in  acts  of  religious  worship.  It  is  be¬ 
cause  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  was  not  dead,  but 
living,  that  he  fasted  and  prayed  in  words  and  in  ap¬ 
propriate  bodily  positions.  When  he  prayed  he  stood 
up,  or  kneeled  down,  or  fell  on  his  face.  When  he 
gave  thanks  for  the  bread  that  he  had  received  from 
his  heavenly  Father,  he  raised  his  eyes  to  heaven. 
When  he  communicated  his  Holy  Spirit  to  his  dis¬ 
ciples  he  breathed  on  them  ;  as,  when  he  created 
man,  and  imparted  to  him  his  soul,  he  is  said  to  have 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life. 

Some  external  manifestation  or  expression  or  re¬ 
flection  of  man’s  inward  life,  of  the  truth  by  which 
he  lives,  is  absolutely  necessary  to  nourish  and  sup¬ 
port  it.  Without  this  he  cannot  live,  much  less  be 
satisfied.  Fie  feels  the  dead  and  powerless  nature  of 
mere  ideas  and  abstractions.  These  are  to  him  but 
a  “  lumen  siccum ,”  a  dry  light.  Fie  feels  the  want, 
for  himself  and  others,  of  an  expression  to  the  senses, 
of  a  bodily  form  and  reflection  of  the  ideas  and  emo¬ 
tions  by  which  he  finds  himself  to  be  powerfully 
moved,  and  by  which  he  desires  to  move  others. 


OF  SYMBOLS. 


5 


Neither  is  he  satisfied  with  mere  words.  He  must 
seek  to  express  himself  to  the  other  senses  as  well  as 
to  the  ear,  that  he  may  reach  the  whole  man  in 
others  ;  that  what  he  knows  and  feels  may  have  for 
himself  and  them  a  superior  life  and  power. 

This  is  a  fact  or  trait  of  the  constitution  of  man  to 
be  verified  by  observing  its  manifestations  in  all 
ages  and  countries,  and  by  each  man  s  expeiience. 
In  it  is  to  be  found  the  true  solution  of  the  origin  and 
use  of  symbolical  representations.  For  a  symbol  is 
a  bodying-forth  or  representation  to  the  senses  of 
ideas  and  emotions  as  these  are  found  in  the  myste¬ 
ries  of  life.  Every  act  of  man,  therefore,  as  a  signi¬ 
ficant  expression  of  the  ideas  and  feelings  from  which 
it  springs,  is  a  symbol.  Every  work  of  art,  every 
rite  and  ceremony  of  religion,  is  a  symbol.  The  ap¬ 
plause  of  the  hands  is  the  symbol  of  approbation,  the 
hiss,  of  disapprobation.  The  smile  is  a  symbol  of 
pleasure  5  the  frown,  the  falling  of  the  countenance, 
of  wrath  and  displeasure.  '  Standing  in  prayer  is 
the  symbol  of  reverence ;  kneeling,  of  reverence 
and  humility.  Sitting  in  prayer  is  the  denial  to 
these  feelings  of  their  appropriate  outward  expres¬ 
sion,  and  tends  most  powerfully,  though  subtly,  to 
destroy  them. 

Also,  since  the  symbol  has  its  origin  in  the  going 
forth  of  that  which  is  within  to  represent  itself  with¬ 
out,  some  feelings  may  be  taken  as  the  symbols  of 
others  which  are  more  inward  and  spiritual  than 
themselves.  For  example,  the  love  of  the  dutiful  child 
to  his  parents  is  taken  in  the  Word  of  God  as  a  symbol 


6 


OF  SYMBOLS. 


of  the  love  which  man  should  feel  towards  God  his 
heavenly  Father.  The  pleasures  of  the  senses  thus 
become  symbols  of  spiritual  joys,  for  which  purpose 
they  are  used  where  it  is  said,  God  smelled  a  sweet 
savor  from  the  sacrifice  of  Noah,  and  where  David 
says,  How  sweet  are  thy  words  to  my  taste ,  yea , 
sweeter  than  honey  to  my  mouth.  Thus,  also,  the 
conscious  degradation  and  spiritual  shame  of  remorse, 
which  arose  in  man  as  soon  as  he  had  sinned,  went 

forth  and  symbolized  itself  in  the  shame  of  his  naked 
body. 

The  superior  life  and  force  which  symbolical 
representations  have  for  man  over  mere  expressions 
in  words,  may  be  perceived  by  the  following  illus¬ 
trations  and  examples. 

The  spirit  and  life  of  the  ancient  Romans  was  the 
genius  of  war  and  conquest.  When,  therefore,  they 
received  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  nations,  they 
sought  for  some  means  of  expressing  to  them  the 
ideas  and  feelings  upon  this  subject,  which  were  uni¬ 
versal  and  prominent  among  these  iron  republicans. 
These  were,  that  the  Roman  was  invincible  ;  that  but 
one  result  was  ever  anticipated  at  Rome  of  all  wars 
in  which  the  republic  might  become  involved  ;  that 
in  all  conflicts  which  could  arise  between  her  and 
other  nations,  they  must  expect  to  be  conquered. 
To  express  these  more  powerfully  than  it  was  possi¬ 
ble  to  do  in  mere  words,  the  Roman  people  gave 
audience  to  foreign  ambassadors  in  the  temple  of 
Victory. 

Also,  when  their  armies  had  gained  a  battle,  they 


OF  SYMBOLS. 


7 


sought  for  some  means  of  expressing,  for  their  own 
gratification,  and  to  impress  upon  the  conquered,  so 
that  it  should  enter  into  their  very  life,  the  idea  and 
conviction  that  other  nations  were  to  them  but  as 
brute  beasts  made  to  be  subjugated.  Again  they 
found  the  means  of  doing  this  in  the  language  of  the 
symbol.  They  erected  upon  the  field  of  victory  an 
immense  wooden  frame,  in  the  form  of  a  yoke  for 
beasts  of  burden,  under  which  they  marched  the 
remains  of  the  conquered  army,  and  then  dismissed 
them  to  their  homes.  What  words,  what  bulletins 
of  exultation,  what  other  means  of  expression  could 
have  had  the  life  and  power  of  this  terrible  symbol  ? 

One  more  example  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  life 
and  force  of  the  symbols  of  modern  times.  The 
Russian  coat-of-arms  is  a  double-headed  eagle,  whose 
two  crowned  heads,  surmounted  by  another  great 
crown,  turn  and  gaze  in  opposite  directions.  In  his 
talons  he  holds  the  globe  surmounted  by  the  cross, 
and  upon  his  breast  is  emblazoned  an  armed  and 
mounted  warrior. 

This  is  the  symbol  of  that  colossal  power  of  the 
North,  the  Russian  Empire.  Standing  at  the  head  of 
the  two  continents  of  the  earth,  the  old  and  the  new, 
she  looks  down  over  each  with  a  crowned  head,  to 
signify  that  her  destiny  is  to  rule  both.  The  two 
heads  meeting  in  one  body,  the  two  crowns  surmount¬ 
ed  by  the  one  great  crown,  together  with  the  single 
sceptre,  show  that  this  two-fold  empire  is  to  be  con¬ 
solidated  into  one  despotism.  The  globe  in  the 
talons  of  the  eagle,  surmounted  by  the  cross,  marks 


OP  SYMBOLS* 


& 

its  extent,  and  shows  what  its  religion  is  to  be  ;  that 
it  is  to  embrace  the  whole  world,  over  which  is  to  be 
established  the  Christian  faith.  The  armed  and 
mounted  warrior  is  her  Cossack  cavalry,  the  best 
and  most  numerous  in  the  world,  upon  which  she 
relies  for  the  realization  of  these  ideas  and  designs, 
which  she  has  thus  emblazoned  before  her  whole 
population,  that  they  may  enter  into  its  very  life,  and 
mould  it  into  their  likeness.  This  tremendous  sym¬ 
bol,  having  grown  up  out  of  the  character  of  the 
Slavonic  race,  which  is  now  moving  into  ascendency 
among  the  nations,  has  been  for  a  long  time  reflect¬ 
ing  these  ideas  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
people,  until,  as  travellers  assure  us,  even  the  serfs 
understand  that  Russia  is  one  day  to  be  the  mistress 
of  the  earth. 

With  perfect  knowledge  of  this  trait  of  the  consti¬ 
tution  of  man,  in  virtue  of  which  he  finds  mere  ideas 
to  be  dead  and  powerless  over  his  heart,  and  feels 
the  want  of  sensible  representations  of  his  inward 
life  to  nourish  and  sustain  it,  our  Lord  symbolized 
the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Gospel  in  the  sacra¬ 
ments  of  the  Christian  Church.  For  the  washing 
with  water  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  sets  forth  the  defilement  and  pollution  of  the 
soul  ot  man  by  sin,  and  his  cleansing  by  the  power 
of  God,  into  whose  Triune  name  he  is  baptized.  The 
sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  is  the  symbol  of  the 
truths,  that,  as  the  bread  is  broken,  and  the  wine 
poured  in  the  sight  of  the  faithful  for  them,  so  is  the 
body  of  Christ  broken  and  his  blood  shed  for  them  ; 


OF  SYMBOLS. 


9 


as  the  bread  is  eaten  and  the  wine  drunk  to  nourish, 
and  strengthen,  and  cheer  the  body,  so  is  Christ  cru¬ 
cified  really  and  truly,  though  “  not  after  a  corporal 
and  carnal  manner,”  received  into  the  souls  of  all 
who  believe  on  him  for  the  nourishment,  strength, 
and  consolation  of  their  spiritual  life  ;  and  that,  as 
they  eat  from  the  same  platter,  and  drink  Irom  the 
same  cup,  which  those  only  of  the  same  family 
can  do  without  disgust,  so  are  they  now  but  one 
family.  These  are  some  of  the  truths  of  the  Gospel 
which  have  been  symbolized  in  the  sacraments  by 
the  Wisdom  of  God,  that  they  might  not  perish  out 
of  the  souls  of  believers,  but  have  in  them  a  perennial 
life  and  power. 

These  views,  in  which  this  subject  is  but  glanced 
at,  may  serve,  perhaps,  in  some  degree  to  illustrate 
the  legitimate  origin  and  use,  and  the  superior  life 
and  power,  of  symbolical  representations. 


10 


OF  THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE 


CHAPTER  II. 

OF  THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE  WORD  OF  GOD. 

“Now  all  these  things  happened  unto  them  for  ensamples  ;  and 
they  are  written  for  our  admonition  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the 
world  are  come.” 

The  great  body  of  believers  in  the  Word  of  God 
have  always  regarded  its  historical  portions  as  literal 
records  of  facts  and  events  which  occurred  as  they 
are  narrated  and  described.  Not  unfrequently  they 
are  suspicious  of  every  attempt  to  show  a  meaning 
in  any  part  of  its  narratives,  deeper  than  that  which 
appears  upon  the  surface.  They  are  afraid  lest  they 
should  find  their  Bible  explained  away  into  myths 
and  allegories,  such  as  the  fables  of  the  heathen. 
Therefore  they  constantly  affirm  the  literal  sense  of 
what  is  recorded,  and  deny  what  they  call  a  spiritual 
sense. 

Another  class  of  readers  and  students  of  the  Word 
are  always  seeking  to  pierce  through  the  literal  sense 
after  something  more  profound  and  spiritual.  These 
are  often  unwilling  to  regard  a  given  narrative  as  a 
record  of  facts  and  events.  For  them  it  must  be  left 
free  to  convey  an  allegorical  sense  which  is  often 
inconsistent  with  the  literal  one.  In  their  eyes  the 
Word  seems  degraded  when  its  histories  are  literally 


WORD  OF  GOD. 


II 


understood.  The  account  given  ot  the  fall  ot  man, 
the  book  of  the  prophet  Jonah,  are  some  of  those 
narratives  which  they  would  interpret  as  pure  alle¬ 
gories.  Origen  among  the  Fathers,  Swedenborg 
and  even  Coleridge  among  the  moderns,  are  speci¬ 
mens  of  this  class. 

Here,  as  in  so  many  other  cases  of  conflicting 
views,  it  would  seem  that  both  parties  are  perfectly 
right  in  what  they  aflirm,  and  both  equally  wrong  in 
what  they  deny.  For,  according  to  St.  Augustin, 
the  narrative  parts  of  the  Word  of  God  are  both 
historical  and  symbolical.  They  are  truly  the 
records  of  facts  and  events  which  occurred  as  they 
are  narrated  and  described.  But  these  facts  and 
events  are  not  barren.  They  are  pregnant  with  spi¬ 
ritual  truth — truth  alike  for  all  times  and  place,  uni¬ 
versal  for  man.  Of  this  truth  the  facts  and  events 
which  are  recorded  are  but  as  the  husk  or  shell,  the 
bodily  form,  the  symbol. 

Each  of  these  views,  exclusive  of  the  other,  is 
narrow,  incomplete,  and  fraught  with  manifest  evil 
consequences. 

For  he  who  denies  to  the  historical  portions  of  the 
Bible  all  deeper  significancy  than  that  which  appears 
upon  their  surface,  does,  in  fact,  if  he  only  knew  it, 
deny  that  they  are  the  Word  of  God  in  any  higher 
sense  than  that  in  which  every  true  history  must  be 
the  word  of  Him  who  is  Truth.  He  can  have  no 
conceivable  reason  why  the  facts  and  events  of 
which  they  treat  were  selected  to  be  recorded  in 
preference  to  that  innumerable  multitude  of  others 


OF  The  SYMBOLS  OF  THE 


12 

which  must  have  been  passed  over  in  silence.  For  all 
the  superior  importance  which  they  can  have,  must 
arise  from  their  significancy  of  truth  universally  or 
generally  applicable  to  man  in  other  ages  and  coun¬ 
tries,  that  is  to  say,  from  their  symbolical  character. 
He  is  in  danger  of  losing  that  in  them  to  impart 
which  they  were  recorded, — their  spirit,— which  is 
their  quickening  power,  and  of  falling  into  that  state 
in  which  he  must  be  killed  by  the  letter.  But  more 
than  all,  he  places  himself  in  an  attitude  of  direct 
opposition  to  the  New  Testament.  For  in  it,  as  we 
shall  directly  see,  a  sense  is  continually  drawn  from 
the  histories  of  the  Old  Testament  very  different 
from,  though  not  inconsistent  with,  the  literal  sense, 
and  which  does  by  no  means  appear  upon  their  sur¬ 
face. 

Through  the  prevalence  of  this  exclusive  view  in 
our  time,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  great  numbers  of 
Christians  do  practically  regard  the  Old  Testament 
as  of  little  more  worth  and  dignity  and  power  than 
any  other  old  and  true  history.  For  them,  it  is 
something  almost  entirely  done  away  ;  while  to  not 
a  few  it  is  a  stone  of  stumbling,  a  rock  of  offence. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  who,  seeking  after  a  spi¬ 
ritual  sense  in  these  narratives,  denies  to  them  their 
literal  and  historical  character,  who  regards  them 
as  nothing  but  allegories  and  parables,  and  myths, 
not  only  renounces  the  views  which  a,re  always 
given  of  them  in  the  New  Testament,  but  he  throws 
away  the  only  key  by  which  it  is  possible  to  unlock 
the  treasures  which  they  contain.  He  turns  away 


word  of  god. 


13 


from  the  only  door  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and 
seeks  to  climb  up  some  other  way.  If  by  chance, 
while  he  meditates  upon  them,  he  should  light  upon 
pure  truth,  he  has  nothing  to  assure  himself  or 
others  that  it  is  the  truth  which  they  were  intended 
to  teach.  If  he  should  discover  order  it  may  be 
but  the  order  of  his  own  mind.  If  he  should  per¬ 
ceive  beauty  it  may  be  but  the  beauty  of  his  own 
soul  coloring  with  its  own  hues  the  objects  upon 
which  it  looks.  He  casts  himself  loose  upon  a  wide 
and  dangerous  sea  without  chart,  or  compass,  or 
rudder.  He  is  liable  to  be  continually  driven  and 
tossed  upon  an  infinite  chaos  of  his  own  imagina¬ 
tions,  over  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has  never 
brooded. 

Now,  that  the  histories  of  the  Old  Testament  do 
record  facts  and  events  which  occurred  as  they  are 
narrated  and  described,  and  that  these  facts  and 
events  are  to  be  taken  as  types  or  symbols  of  spi¬ 
ritual  truth,  is  evident  from  the  most  positive  testi¬ 
mony  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles. 

In  respect  to  the  ritual  law  there  is  no  dispute 
among  Christians.  That  it  was  given  to  set  forth 
in  symbol  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Gospel  is 
acknowledged  by  all.  In  the  New  Testament  it  is 
continually  appealed  to  as  an  authoritative  teacher 
of  truths  afterwards  to  be  declared  in  words.  Of 
this  one  example  will  be  sufficient.  It  is  declared 
that  the  bones  of  the  Lord  were  not  broken  upon 
the  cross,  as  were  those  of  his  fellow-sufferers,  in 
order  that  the  Scripture  might  he  fulfilled,  that  not  a 


14 


OF  THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE 


bone  of  him  should  be  broken.  But  it  is  nowhere 
said  that  not  a  bone  of  Christ  should  be  broken. 
This  was  commanded  in  respect  to  the  Paschal 
Lamb.  Here  it  is  evident  that  what  was  spoken  of 
this  sacrifice  is  assumed  as  declared  in  type  or  sym¬ 
bol  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

But  in  their  expositions  of  the  symbols  of  the  Old 
Testament,  Jesus  and  his  Apostles  do  by  no  means 
confine  themselves  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
the  Mosaic  ritual  law.  They  take  up  the  historical 
events,  even  those  which  occurred  before  that  law 
was  given,  and  expound  them  after  the  same  manner, 
appealing  to  them  as  authority  for  the  truths  which 
they  drew  from  them  regarded  as  symbols.  The 
land  of  Canaan,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  are 
always  taken  by  them  as  the  symbols  of  the  king¬ 
dom  of  God  ;  and  the  taking  possession  of  these  by 
the  Israelites  under  Joshua,  after  the  death  of  the 
law-giver,  as  the  type  of  the  believers’  entering  into 
the  rest  of  holiness  under  Jesus,  the  captain  of  their 
salvation,  after  they  have  been  delivered  from  the 
condemning  power  of  the  law.  The  manna  in  the 
wilderness  is  taken  by  Jesus  as  the  symbol  of  the 
truth  that  the  bread  of  life  is  nothing  of  earthly 
growth,  the  work  of  man’s  agency,  where  he  de¬ 
clares,  I  am  that  bread  which  came  down  from  hea¬ 
ven  ;  that  is  to  say,  I  am  that  which  is  signified  or 
symbolized  by  that  bread  with  which  your  fathers 
were  nourished.  He  refers  also  to  the  elevation  of 
the  brazen  serpent  for  the  healing  of  the  children  of 
Israel  who  had  been  bitten  by  the  fiery  flying  ser- 


WORD  OF  GOD. 


15 


pents  in  the  wilderness,  as  a  symbol  of  the  truth  that 
by  his  elevation  upon  the  cross  should  all  believers 
be  healed  of  the  poison  produced  by  the  bite  of  that 
old  serpent ,  that  is  the  devil.  That  it  was  originally 
intended  for  this  purpose  is  admitted  by  all.  Yet 
this  is  a  purely  historical  event,  and  no  way  con¬ 
nected  with  the  ritual  law. 

Also,  when  the  infant  Redeemer  under  the  guid¬ 
ance  of  Joseph  was  led  out  of  Egypt,  it  is  said,  that 
was  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  of  the  Lord ,  Out  of 
Egypt  have  I  called  my  Son.  But  this  was  spoken 
in  the  prophet  of  the  children  of  Israel  who  were 
brought  up  out  of  Egypt  under  the  guidance  of 
Moses.  The  words  are,  When  Israel  was  a  child 
then  I  loved  him ,  and  called  my  son  out  of  Egypt. 
It  is  evident  that  this  exodus  of  Christ  could  fulfil 
that  which  was  spoken  of  the  exodus  of  Israel  only 
in  virtue  of  the  prediction  in  type  of  the  one  in  the 
other.  He  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazareth,  that  it 
might  he  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  hy  the  prophet , 
He  shall  he  called  a  Nazarene.  But  this  was  spoken 
of  Samson.  That  which  happened  to  Christ  could 
not  fulfil  what  was  said  of  this  Judge  and  deliverer 
of  his  people  except  the  one  were  intended  to  be 
prefigured  by  the  other.  It  is  also  declared  that 
Jesus  rose  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day  according 
to  the  Scriptures.  But  it  is  not  predicted  in  the 
Old  Testament  in  words  that  the  Messiah  should 
rise  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day.  He  himself 
refers  to  the  history  of  the  prophet  Jonah,  who  was 
three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  belly  of  the  whale, 


16 


OF  THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE 


as  the  symbol  under  which  it  had  been  foretold  that 
he  should  be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  heart 
of  the  earth. 

Still  more  clear  does  the  symbolical  character  of 
the  histories  of  the  Old  Testament  become  from  St. 
Paul’s  treatment  of  the  account  of  the  mocking  of 
Isaac  by  Ishmael.  He  certainly  does  not  mean  to 
deny  that  this  is  the  literal  history  of  an  event  which 
occurred  as  it  is  narrated.  Yet  he  expressly  de¬ 
clares  that  it  is  also  an  allegory  or  symbol,  under 
which  is  set  forth  the  external  and  visible  church, 
when,  having  lost  her  spiritual  life,  she  persecutes 
the  children  of  the  promise.  It  represents  in  sym¬ 
bol  what  always  takes  place  in  like  circumstances, 
a  truth  exemplified  in  the  times  of  Abraham,  David, 
Jeremiah,  Christ,  Paul,  Luther,  and  to  the  present 
day.  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
undertaking  professedly  to  expound  the  symbols  of 
the  Old  Testament,  takes  up  its  historical  portions 
precisely  as  he  does  the  ritual  law,  and  explains 
them  in  the  same  manner.  Among  these  he  enters 
into  the  History  of  Melchisedec  as  a  symbol  of  the 
spiritual  priesthood  of  Christ  declaring  that  he  was 
made  like  unto  the  Son  of  God  in  that  he  was  with¬ 
out  priestly  generation,  yet  superior  to  the  priesthood 
of  Levi ;  and  in  that  he  was  king  of  a  city 
whose  name  was  Righteousness  and  Peace,  as  if  this 
had  been  ordained  of  God  that  he  might  serve  this 
symbolical  or  typical  purpose. 

But  in  order  to  place  this  doctrine  beyond  all 
doubt,  in  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  after 


WORD  OF  GOD. 


17 


r- 

having  cited  consecutively  no  less  than  eleven  dis¬ 
tinct  events  in  the  history  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
St.  Paul  declares,  Now  all  these  things  happened 
unto  them  for  ensamples  ( rvno\ ,  types  is  the  word 
translated  ensamples),  and  they  are  written  for  our 
admonition ,  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are 
come.  In  these  words  he  gives  a  distinct  and  formal 
enunciation  of  this  doctrine,  which  is  everywhere 
assumed  and  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  that  the 
events  of  the  Old,  were  not  only  selected  to  be  re¬ 
corded,  but  that  they  actually  happened #  to  serve  as 
types  or  symbols  of  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  truths 
universal  and  alike  applicable  to  the  man  of  every 
age  and  country. 

One  or  two  examples  will  serve  to  illustrate  the 
life  and  power  of  these  historical  symbols. 

When  the  children  of  Israel  had  come  to  the  bor¬ 
ders  of  the  promised  land,  terrified  by  the  reports 
which  their  spies  had  brought  back  of  the  gigantic 
stature  and  superhuman  prowess  of  its  inhabitants, 
they  were  discouraged  and  refused  to  go  forward 
after  their  divine  guide  to  possess  the  inheritance  of 

*  This  is  not  a  denial  that  these  events  arose  from  the  free  agency 
of  man,  as  truly  as  any  in  the  history  of  the  heathen  world.  The 
two  doctrines  of  man’s  freedom  and  God’s  preordination  of  whatso¬ 
ever  comes  to  pass,  however  inconsistent  they  may  seem  in  our 
eyes,  are  to  be  held  in  deference  of  our  own  wisdom  to  the  wisdom 
of  God,  as  most  certain  truths.  That  there  is  a  point  in  which  they 
meet  and  are  conciliated,  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt.  They  are  to  be 
regarded  as  the  two  sides  of  a  stupendous  arch  whose  keystone  is 
lost  in  the  clouds.  He  who  beholds  the  two  sides,  knows  that  they 
have  a  keystone,  although  it  is  above  the  reach  of  his  vision. 


18 


OF  THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE 


which  they  were  the  heirs.  Therefore  they  were 
turned  back  into  a  barren  and  desolate  wilderness,  in 
which  they  must  wander  many  years,  suffering  contin¬ 
ual  hardship  and  sorrow,  until  as  a  people,  they  should 
learn  by  bitter  experience  that  the  wisdom  and  love 
of  God  was  a  better  guide  for  them  than  their  own 
shortsighted  prudence,  or  their  own  faithlessness  and 
fears. 

This  is  an  historical  event  which  occurred  as  it  is 
described.  But  it  is  not  barren.  It  is  pregnant. 
It  is  full  of  divine  significance.  It  sets  forth  as  in  a 
living  picture  the  universal  truth,  that,  whensoever 
the  people  of  God,  discouraged  by  any  obstacle  that 
may  arise  to  withstand  them,  refuse  to  go  forward  in 
implicit  trust  upon  his  guidance  and  strength,  to  pos¬ 
sess  that  heavenly  rest  and  peace  of  true  holiness  of 
which  they  are  the  heirs,  and  of  which  the  promised 
land  was  but  the  type  and  symbol,  they  must  be 
turned  back  from  that  which  is  their  true  life  to  wan¬ 
der  in  a  spiritual  wilderness,  where,  though  not  for¬ 
saken,  they  are  deprived  of  their  most  spiritual  joys, 
and  where,  though  they  make  no  progress,  they  can 
never  rest.  Out  of  this  wilderness  they  cannot  come, 
until  wearied  with  the  toils  and  cares  of  earth,  and 
chastised  by  human  disappointments  and  sorrows, 
they  are  made  willing  to  trust  themselves  to  the 
guidance  and  the  strength  of  God,  and  to  follow  him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

Also  the  flood  by  which  the  old  world  was  de¬ 
stroyed,  and  upon  which  Noah  was  saved,  is  declared 
by  St.  Peter  to  be  the  antitype  of  Christian  baptism  ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  symbol  of  those  truths  pertain- 


WORD  OF  GOD. 


19 


ing  to  the  defilement  and  regeneration  of  man  which 
were  afterwards  set  forth  under  this  sacrament. 
And  by  inspection  we  shall  see  that  when  these 
truths  are  studied  as,  according  to  this  Apostle,  they 
are  exhibited  in  this  tremendous  symbol,  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  lose  the  force  of  the  words  in  wlfich  regene¬ 
ration  is  described  in  the  New  Testament,  as  other¬ 
wise  it  is.  In  it  we  behold  set  forth  in  life,  with 
terrific  power,  that  judgment  upon  the  old  man,  the 
corrupt  nature  in  each  individual  which  is  described 
in  the  New  Testament,  by  the  words,  a  baptism  of 
fire ,  being  crucified  with  Christ ,  and  by  other  expres¬ 
sions  no  less  significant. 

For  in  this  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  by  which  the 
soul  is  regenerated  and  which  is  symbolized  by  the 
flood,  the  carnal  wisdom,  the  proud  will,  the  self-trust 
of  the  natural  man,  are  overwhelmed  and  destroyed 
by  the  judgment  of  God  executed  upon  him,  as  the 
old  world,  with  its  race  of  giants,  with  all  their  arts 
and  sciences,  their  cities  and  towers  and  high  hills 
of  refuge,  was  overwhelmed  and  submerged  in  the 
floods  of  the  wrath  of  God.  The  filth  and  pollution 
of  the  spirit  are  cleansed  away,  as  now  the  human 
race  was  purified.  As  Noah,  the  type  of  the  rege¬ 
nerated  soul,  is  saved  in  the  ark  because  he  believed 
God,  so  does  the  soul  regenerated,  stripped  of  all  its 
filthy  righteousness,  and  emptied  of  its  self-trust,  of  all 
confidence  in  that  in  which  the  natural  man  trusts, 
by  faith  in  Christ  flee  into  him,  where  it  finds  salva¬ 
tion.  By  faith  the  new  man  rises  above  the  floods  of 
the  judgment  of  God,  by  which  the  old  man  in  him 
is  cast  down  and  destroyed.  He  is  baptized  into 


20 


OP  THE  SYMBOLS  OF  THE 


death ,  unto  sin,  and  the  world ;  and  rises  to  newness 
of  life  unto  God.  But  when  his  human  hopes  and 
joys  begin  to  return,  and  he  goes  forth  to  the  duties 
of  the  mortal  life,  his  first  care  is  to  erect  in  his  soul 
an  altar  to  God,  and  to  offer  clean  sacrifices,  as  now 
the  patriarch  builded  an  altar  and  offered  sacrifices 
of  every  clean  beast  unto  God.  These  offerings  are 
now  well  pleasing  to  God,  as  Jehovah  smelled  a  sweet 
savor  from  the  sacrifice  of  Noah.  Now  for  the  first 
time  a  covenant  is  made  with  the  new  man  in  Christ, 
as  here  for  the  first  time  since  the  fall,  a  covenant 
was  made  with  the  newly  baptized  human  race,  in 
the  person  of  Noah.  Now  the  Father  gives  him  a 
new  law,  the  royal  law  of  love ,  unknown  to  him  be¬ 
fore,  as  here  he  gave  to  the  race  of  man  a  new  law. 
Now  he  gives  him  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit ,  the 
pledge  of  his  love  and  guidance  and  protection,  so 
that  he  need  be  afraid  no  more  of  judgment,  as  here 
he  gave  to  the  patriarch,  and  through  him  to  his  pos¬ 
terity,  the  assurance  that  he  would  no  more  destroy 
the  earth  with  a  flood,  and  placed  his  bow  in  the 
clouds  to  be  a  constantly  returning  pledge  of  his 
faithfulness.  Henceforth,  in  the  midst  of  the  cloud 
and  the  storm,  the  new  man  beholds  the  dear  pledge 
of  God’s  covenanted  mercy,  which  throws  over  his  life 
a  divine  halo,  of  which  the  hues  of  the  rainbow  are 
but  a  shadow. 

These  are  but  skeletons  of  the  truths  set  forth  in 
these  holy  symbols.  Indeed,  because  the  truth  sym¬ 
bolized  has  a  richness  and  power  above  all  other  modes 
of  expression,  every  attempt  to  empty  such  symbols  as 
these  does  not  weaken  and  degrade  them.  Their 


WORD  OF  GOD. 


21 


power  is  to  be  felt  by  gazing  upon  them  rather  than 
by  reasoning  about  them.  For  they  embody  the 
truth  of  God,  in  the  gospel  of  his  dear  Son,  in  mi¬ 
nuteness  of  detail,  upon  a  stupendous  scheme,  with 
awful  grandeur,  in  divine  beauty,  in  the  life  of  man, 
with  the  power  of  Jehovah.  Mere  enunciations  in 
words  can  never  attain  to  the  life  and  power  of  such 
symbols  as  these. 

When  the  significancy  of  these  events  which  hap¬ 
pened  unto  them  in  order  to  he  types  unto  us ,  is  per¬ 
ceived,  then  and  not  before,  does  the  Old  Testament 
become  the  word  of  God  to  us  with  power.  Most 
amazing,  most  divine  does  it  become  in  our  eyes  and 
in  our  faith.  It  is  recognised  as  another  body  for 
that  Eternal  Word,  who  also  tabernacled  in  the  man 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  It  is  radiant  of  the  brightest 
beams  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  is  the  very  shrine  of 
the  living  God,  from  which  he  continually  gives 
oracles  of  life  to  our  souls.  It  is  the  mercy-seat  be¬ 
tween  the  cherubim  from  which  his  glory  beams  with 
such  spiritual  power  that  it  must  be  approached  with 
the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  in  a  cloud  of 
the  incense  of  prayer,  with  the  offering  of  an  humble 
and  sincere  heart. 


i 


22 


SCRIPTURAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 


CHAPTER  III. 

OF  THE  SYMBOLICAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCRIPTURAL 

ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 

From  the  foregoing  views  it  is  plain  that  the  Word 
of  God  is  not  given  to  or  for  the  men  of  any  particu¬ 
lar  age  or  country  in  an  exclusive  sense.  It  is  the 
revelation  of  God  to  man.  It  was  given  through  a 
chosen  and  peculiar  people,  for  humanity.  It  de¬ 
scribes  the  origin,  nature,  and  destination  of  huma¬ 
nity  ;  the  creation,  temptation,  sin,  redemption,  and 
final  salvation  *  of  humanity. 

If  it  be  asked  what  humanity  is  different  from  an 
idea  in  the  mind  of  all  individual  human  beings  taken 
collectively,  it  may  be  found  much  easier  to  ask  such 
questions  than  to  answer  them.  For  what  is  a  vine 
or  a  tree,  different  from  a  collection  of  all  the  branch¬ 
es  and  other  parts  of  which  it  is  composed  ?  What 
is  a  man  different  from  a  collection  of  limbs,  mind, 
soul,  and  of  whatever  else  he  is  constituted  ?  Nay, 
with  all  reverence,  what  is  the  Deity,  other  than  an 

*  This  is  not  to  be  understood  in  any  sense  opposed  to  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  the  everlasting  perdition  of  the  wicked.  In  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  the  human  race  is  regarded  as  a  tree,  of  which  individual 
branches  may  drop  off  and  die  ;  but  the  tree  shall  live.  Humanity 
shall  be  saved.  The  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth. 


CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


23 


idea  in  the  mind  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
taken  collectively  ?  He  who  can  have  no  perception 
nor  feeling  of  this  unity  in  the  human  race  ;  who  can 
conceive  of  humanity  in  no  other  light  than  as  a  col¬ 
lection  of  individuals  related  to  each  other  by  proxi- 
mity  of  time,  or  space,  or  otherwise,  but  having  no 
fundamental  unity,  no  vital  oneness — he  who  is  sure 
that  such  a  thing  is  altogether  impossible — how  can 
he  receive  the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  in  Unity  ? 
Whether  he  avow  it  in  words  or  not,  though  he  may 
not  be  conscious  of  it,  yet  in  his  heart  and  practically, 
he  must  deny  either  the  Trinity  or  the  Unity  of  God. 
He  must  either  reject  the  doctrine  of  a  threefold 
mode  of  subsistence  in  the  Deity,  or  he  must  worship 
three  Gods.  He  cannot  conceive  of  trinity  nor  mul¬ 
tiplicity  in  unity,  although  this  very  thing  is  contained 
in  every  fact  of  life.  He  may  attain  to  the  highest 
and  most  comprehensive  formulas  of  physical  and 
logical  science,  but  he  can  have  no  profound  recog¬ 
nition  or  feeling  of  the  mysteries  of  life.  For  him, 
such  expressions  as  ye  are  crucified  with  Christ ,  If 
one  died  for  all ,  then  were  all  dead ,  In  Adam  all  die , 
By  one  man’s  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners 
— these,  and  all  kindred  expressions  in  the  Scriptures 
which  pertain  to  the  first  and  second  Adam,  must  be 
wholly  unintelligible. 

In  virtue  of  this  unity  in  the  human  race  it  is  that 
many  of  those  events  which  are  recorded  of  the  first 
man  are  also  found  to  be,  in  the  substance  of  them, 
facts  in  the  life  of  every  man.  He  was  the  head  and 
representative  of  all  who  are  descended  from  him 


24 


SCRIPTURAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 


not  only  in  a  formal  and  legal,  but  also  in  a  vital 
sense.  He  acts,  and  is  spoken  of,  in  the  character  of 
man*  Hence  it  is  not  exclusively  his  creation  and 
temptation  and  sin  and  shame  and  toil  and  sorrow 
and  death,  which  are  treated  of  in  the  first  chapters  of 
the  Bible  ;  but  in  them  is  given  an  account  of  these 
things  in  respect  to  man  as  such.  In  other  words 
the  events  which  they  describe  are  both  histoiical 
facts  and  symbols  of  truth  which  has  a  univeisal  ap¬ 
plication. 

For  to  deny  to  this  account  the  character  of  a  faith¬ 
ful  and  true  history  of  facts  and  events  which  actu¬ 
ally  occurred  as  they  are  narrated  and  desciibed  , 
to  regard  it  as  nothing  but  an  artistically  wrought 
myth  or  allegory  or  symbol  is  to  take  away  from  it 
the  character  which  is  always  ascribed  to  it  in  the 
Word  of  God,  and  especially  in  the  New  Testament. 
In  Adam  all  die,  By  one  man’s  offence  judgment 
came  upon  all  men — such  expressions  as  these,  of 
which  there  are  great  numbers,  become  wholly 
meaningless  and  absurd  if  Adam  be  regarded  not  as 
a  real  person,  but  simply  as  a  mythical  character. 
Also  to  maintain  this  view  a  principle  of  interpreta¬ 
tion  must  be  assumed  which  has  not  the  least  founda¬ 
tion  or  support,  and  which,  if  carried  out  and  applied 
to  other  parts  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  especially  to 
the  history  of  our  Lord,  as  it  has  been  done,  must 

*  “  There  is  scarcely  one  word  that  we  have  an  account  of,  which 
God  ever  said  to  Adam  or  Eve,  but  what  does  manifestly  include 
their  posterity  in  the  meaning  and  design  of  it.”— Edwards  on  Ori¬ 
ginal  Sin.  (See  the  whole  passage.)  Part  ii.,  Chap,  i.,  Sec.  iii. 


CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


25 


subvert  all  faith  in  Revelation,  and  end  in  the  denial  of 
the  very  existence  of  him  whose  blood  cleanseth  us 
from  all  sin.* 

No  less  does  the  denial  of  all  symbolical  signifi¬ 
cance  to  the  events  here  recorded  take  away  from 
them  that  character  which  is  ascribed  to  them  in 
the  New  Testament.  For  if  this  account  were  in¬ 
tended  to  be  understood  as  nothing  but  a  literal 
history  of  events  in  the  life  of  the  first  man  Adam, 
how  could  truths  be  drawn  from  it  of  universal  ap¬ 
plication  ?  For  example,  St.  Paul  argues  from  the 
fact  that  the  first  woman  was  taken  out  of  her  hus¬ 
band,  and  made  for  him,  that  woman  as  such,  is  to 
be  in  subjection  to  her  husband.  But  this  reasoning 
has  not  the  least  logical  force  except  upon  the  suppo¬ 
sition  that  they  to  whom  he  wrote  knew  that  this 

*  It  would  hardly  be  necessary  to  say  one  word  in  opposition  to 
this  view  if  it  had  not  been  advocated  by  one  such  mind  as  that 
of  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge.  He  cannot  away  with  the  “  talking 
snake;”  and,  therefore,  denies  that  this  account  is  to  be  understood 
literally.  In  his  eyes  it  is  nothing  but  a  ‘‘sacred  myth”  The 
words  of  St.  Peter  himself:  “The  dumb  ass,  speaking  with  man’s 
voice,  forbade  the  madness  of  the  prophet,”  must  also  have  ap¬ 
peared  to  him  as  highly  mythical . 

Of  the  vagaries  ol  Swedenborg  upon  this  portion  of  the  Sacred 
History,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  speak  with  gravity.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  him,  Adam  is  wholly  a  mythical  character  under  which  the 
man  of  the  first  ages  is  described  Eve  also  is  not  a  person,  but 
evil  personified.  Adam’s  union  with  her  is  man’s  ui  ion  with  sin. 
That  is  to  say,  God  made  sin  out  of  man,  and  brought  sin  to  him, 
and  said,  therefore  shall  a  man  forsake  father  and  mother  and  shall 
cleave  unto  sin.  When  such  views  do  not  refute  themselves  they 
may  safely  defy  all  attacks  from  reason. 

2 


26 


SCRIPTURAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 


manner  of  the  creation  of  the  woman  was  a  symbol. 
For  otherwise,  the  fact  that  Eve  was  taken  out  of 
Adam  might  be  a  very  good  reason  why  she  should 
obey  him,  but  how  could  it  prove  that  othei  women, 
who  are  not  taken  out  ol  their  husbands  in  a  liteial 
sense,  should  be  subject  to  them?  The  same  fact 
in  the  manner  of  the  creation  of  the  first  woman  is 
referred  to,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  as 
a  reason  why  the  man  of  every  age  and  countiy 
should  leave  father  and  mother,  and  cleave  to  his 
wife.  Here  again,  because  Eve  was  taken  out  of 
Adam,  was  bone  of  his  bones  and  flesh  of  his  flesh, 
might  be  a  good  reason  why  he  should  break  all 
other  ties  and  cleave  to  her,  but  can  be  no  leason 
why  the  man  of  these  days  should  do  the  same, 
unless  it  be  understood  that  this  is  a  symbol  under 
which  is  set  forth  truth  of  universal  application. 
Also  in  the  prophets  and  by  the  Lord  divorces  aie 
forbidden  for  the  reason  that  Adam  and  Eve  were 
created  male  and  female  of  one  flesh.  This  might 
be  a  good  reason  why  he  should  not  divorce  her, 
but  the  universal  truth  that  other  men  are  bound  by 
the  same  law  cannot  be  drawn  from  that  fact  other¬ 
wise  than  by  regarding  it  as  a  symbol  appointed  by 
God  to  declare  his  will  and  intention  in  respect  to 
marriage. 

But  upon  the  supposition  that  the  significancy  of 
this  history  is  to  be  confined  to  the  first  man,  it  gives 
us  no  account  of  the  Creator  nor  of  the  cieation  of 
man,  but  only  of  one  man.  It  says  nothing  about 
the  sin  and  fall  of  man,  but  only  of  one  man.  It 


CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


27 


gives  no  account  of  the  origin  of  the  shame  of  the 
naked  body  in  us.  It  neither  explains  nor  alludes 
to  the  curse  of  toil  and  sorrow  and  death,  as  these 
things  have  come  upon  us.  It  does  not  indicate  any 
connexion  between  the  curse  of  child-bearing  as 
pronounced  upon  Eve,  and  the  same  curse  which 
has  come  upon  woman  as  such.  Upon  the  supposi¬ 
tion  that  these  events  are  not  symbols,  it  was  the 
snake  which  tempted  the  first  woman,  and  not  Satan 
under  its  form,  embodied  in  it ;  the  enmity  between 
man  and  the  serpent  teaches  us  nothing  about  the 
enmity  between  Christ  and  the  adversary ;  neither 
do  the  words,  He  shall  bruise  thy  head ,  and  thou 
shalt  bruise  his  heel ,  contain  any  promise  of  the 
destruction  of  the  power  of  Satan  by  the  Son  of 
God.  This  curse  is  all  fulfilled,  in  its  literal  import, 
by  the  enmity  and  warfare  between  man  and  the 
reptile  itself.  That  which  Christians  in  every  age 
and  country  have  treasured  in  their  hearts’  faith  as 
a  most  blessed  promise  is  all  exploded. 

From  many  parts  of  the  narrative  itself,  however, 
it  is  perfectly  evident  that  it  treats  of  symbols.  The 
country  in  which  the  garden  of  innocence  was  situat¬ 
ed,  is  called  the  land  of  Eden ,  that  is  to  say,  the  land 
of  Delight.  But  when  we  use  such  expressions  as 
The  castle  of  indolence ,  The  palace  of  desire ,  are  they 
not  always  understood  as  symbols  ?  The  tree  of 
liberty — is  it  not  a  symbol  under  which  something  is 
set  forth  pertaining  to  liberty  ?  The  tree  of  life ,  The 
tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, , — these,  if 
language  be  not  used  at  random,  must  be  symbols 


28 


SCRIPTURAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 


under  which  something  is  set  forth  pertaining  to  life, 
and  to  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 

But  if  all  other  proofs  were  wanting,  the  universal¬ 
ity  of  the  facts  which  are  treated  of  would  be  suffi¬ 
cient  of  itself  to  show  that  what  is  signified  by  this 
account  is  not  intended  to  be  confined  to  the  first  man 
and  woman.  The  temptation  of  man  by  the  devil  ; 
the  sin  of  man  against  God  ;  the  shame  of  his  naked 
body  ;  the  curse  of  child-bearing  upon  the  woman  ; 
that  of  toil  and  sorrow,  and  death,  upon  humanity — 
these,  being  found  co-extensive  with  the  human  race, 
are  enough  to  show  that  this  part  of  the  Word  of 
God,  except  where  this  is  limited  by  the  account 
itself,  and  by  the  very  nature  of  symbols,  is  given  to 
describe  humanity,  man  as  such,  no  less  than  to  record 
facts  and  events  in  the  life  of  the  first  man,  Adam. 

Nor  has  the  particular  and  universal  significancy 
and  application  of  the  truth  here  set  forth  been  over¬ 
looked  by  those  who  have  translated  the  Scriptures 
into  other  languages,  and  especially  into  English. 
They  have  marked  it  in  the  only  way  in  which  it 
could  be  marked  in  a  translation.  For  the  Hebrew 
word  Adam ,  the  same  through  the  whole  narrative, 
they  have  rendered  in  two  ways  ;  sometimes  by  the 
word  Man ,  denoting  man  as  such,  which  is  its  exact 
equivalent  in  meaning  ;  and  sometimes  by  simply 
transferring  the  word  itself  from  one  language  to  the 
other,  as  a  proper  name  of  the  first  man,  Adam. 
This  they  have  done  evidently  because  they  discerned 
that,  as  used  in  the  account,  it  is  both  a  term  of  uni- 


CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


29 


versal  significancy,  and  at  the  same  time  a  proper 
name. 

This  will  the  more  fully  appear  as  we  proceed  to 
empty  these  divinely  appointed  and  inexhaustible 
symbols  of  some  portion  of  their  meaning. 


30 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

r  ;  'C  _■  •;  •  f  ..  i 

OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 

“  God  created  man.” 

As  we  have  seen,  the  translators  of  the  Bible  into 
English  have  indicated  that  the  significancy  of  this 
declaration  is  not  to  be  confined  to  the  first  man. 
He  is  taken  as  the  type  and  symbol  of  the  race.  All 
his  posterity  are  included  in  him  ;  and  what  is  said 
of  him  is  intended  to  apply  to  them.  Therefore, 
these  words  declare  that  God  creates  every  man  by 
his  direct  agency  as  truly  as  he  did  Adam.  The 
methods  by  which  he  does  this  may  be  modified 
indeed,  as  they  are,  but  the  substance  of  what  is 
expressed  in  these  words  is  just  as  true  of  one  man 
as  of  another,  of  all  men  as  of  the  first  man. 

In  order  that  we  should  perceive  the  truth  of  this, 
and  feel  its  force,  we  must  consider  an  objection  or 
difficulty  which  now  continually  arises  in  the  minds 
of  men  under  this  form.  It  is  true ,  doubtless ,  that 
the  first  man  was  made  by  the  hand  of  God  ;  but  now , 
men  are  made  by  the  laws  of  the  natural  world. 
Nature ,  it  is  true ,  was  originally  made  by  God.  He 
communicated  to  her  all  her  powers.  But  now  men 
are  made  by  the  laws  of  nature.  God  ceased  from 
his  work  of  creation  after  the  sixth  day. 

This  conception  of  nature  as  a  great  machine  hav- 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 


31 


ing  its  powers  within  itself,  which  God  created  a  great 
while  ago,  and  whose  operations  he  now  stands  by 
to  watch  and  direct,  as  an  engineer  superintends  the 
machinery  of  a  factory,  has  well  nigh  succeeded,  in 
our  time,  in  banishing  the  Creator  from  his  own 
works.  For  if  his  machine  be  perfect,  as  it  must  be 
since  it  is  the  work  of  perfect  wisdom  and  unlimited 
power,  there  seems  to  be  no  need  of  his  presence 
even  as  an  engineer.  Under  this  view  the  very  near, 
ever  present  God  of  the  Scriptures,  becomes  almost 
of  necessity  nothing  better  than  the  deity  of  the 
ancient  Epicureans,  withdrawn  into  some  remote 
corner  of  the  universe,  too  far  off  to  concern  himself 
with  the  affairs  of  the  insects  who  inhabit  this  earth 
• — a  god  of  eternal  idleness.  Such  a  conception  of 
God  has  no  power  whatever  over  the  life  of  man. 
It  leaves  him  free  to  follow  the  desires  ot  his  own 
heart.  It  gives  him  for  his  chief  good  nothing  higher 
than  pleasure,  and  for  his  eternal  hope,  nothing  better 
than  the  grave. 

In  opposition  to  this,  the  God  of  the  Scriptures  is 
always  represented  as  present,  and  as  doing  by  his 
direct  power,  all  those  things  which  are  called  the 
works  of  nature.  The  word  of  God  knows  nothing 
of  nature  as  a  system  of  powers.  We,  in  these  days, 
have  departed  from  its  phraseology  upon  this  subject, 
and  from  the  idea  which  it  reveals  of  the  agency  of 
God  in  the  natural  world.  For  example,  where  we 
say,  the  lightning ,  it  thundered ,  it  rains ,  the  wind 
blows ,  it  ceases  to  blow,  in  the  Scriptures  it  is  the  fire 
of  God,  God  thundered  in  the  heaven,  He  raiseth  the 
stormy  wind ,  He  maketh  the  storm  a  calm.  He  sendeth 


32 


OF  THE  CREATION  OP  MAN. 


the  springs  into  the  valleys ,  He  watereth  the  hills 
from  his  chambers ,  Thou  makest  darkness ,  I  create  the 
light.  He  is  represented  as  feeding  the  young  lions 
when  they  roar  for  food,  and  the  young  ravens  when 
they  cry  to  him.  These  wait  all  upon  thee ,  that  thou 
mayest  give  them  their  meat  in  due  season.  TVhat 
thou  givest  them  they  gather.  Thou  openest  thine 
hand — they  are  filled  with  good.  Thou  takest  away 
their  breath — they  die  and  return  to  their  dust. 
Thou  sendest  forth  thy  spirit — they  are  created. 
Thou  renewest  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  heartfelt  recognition  of  this  truth  as  it  is  in  Je¬ 
sus,  that  not  a  sparrow  can  fall  to  the  ground  without 
the  heavenly  Father,  is  the  only  conception  of  God 
which  can  have  power  over  the  life  of  man.  Every 
other  view  which  removes  him  further  off  from  us, 
and  his  agency  further  back  than  does  his  own  word, 
is  a  delusion  of  the  mind  of  man,  professing  itself  to 
be  wise  and  thereby  becoming  a  fool.  It  leads  di¬ 
rectly  into  scepticism,  and  when  carried  out,  ends  in 
godless  infidelity. 

But  do  not  the  physical  sciences  demonstrate  that 
there  are  powers  in  nature  which  are  not  the  direct 
agency  of  God  ? 

In  order  to  answer  this  question  we  must  carefully 
distinguish  between  two  things  which  are  totally  dif¬ 
ferent,  between  a  law  and  a  power.  This  distinction 
is  often  lost  sight  of  in  these  days  when  the  whole 
force  of  the  human  mind  seems  to  be  bent  upon  the 
objects  of  natural  science.  Now,  as  every  true  vo¬ 
tary  of  this  science  knows,  its  legitimate  object  is 
simply  to  determine  what  are  facts,  and  according  to 


t 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 


33 


what  laws  or  methods  these  facts  are  produced.  It 
has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  power  by  which  they 
are  caused  to  exist.  But  in  the  heat  and  enthusiasm 
of  this  pursuit  after  the  knowledge  of  facts,  and  of 
the  laws  or  methods  according  to  which  the  things 
which  do  appear  are  created,  man  loses  out  of  mind 
the  invisible  power  which  creates  them.  Thus  he 
has  come  to  deify  laws  and  methods  under  the  word 
Nature ,  regarding  and  speaking  of  nature  as  if  it 
were  a  system  of  powers. 

Disguise  it  as  we  will,  this  is  the  idolatry  of  our 
time,  and  of  modern  civilization.  For  this  we  have 
forsaken  the  living,  ever-present,  ever-active  God  of 
the  Scriptures.  It  is  an  idolatry  far  more  subtle  and 
disguised,  therefore  perhaps,  more  destructive  to  the 
soul  of  man  than  that  of  the  ancient  Scandinavians, 
or  Greeks,  or  any  other  primitive  heathen  people. 
For  they  never  did  lose  the  knowledge  of  the  truth 
that  there  is  in  nature  nothing  that  can  be  properly 
called  powers.  They  knew  that,  having  determined 
with  perfect  accuracy  the  laws  or  methods  accord¬ 
ing  to  which  things  in  the  natural  world  are  done, 
they  had  determined  nothing  in  respect  to  the  power 
which  does  them.  They  understood  that  within  all 
the  laws  and  methods  of  nature  was  present  a  living 
power,  and  one  truly  divine,  although  they  did  not 
know  that  this  power  was  in  every  case  one  and  the 
same.  Hence  arose  their  gods  of  cold  and  heat,  of 
thunder  and  storm,  of  the  heavens,  earth  and  ocean, 
of  the  seasons,  rivers  and  trees. 

The  laws  of  nature,  when  conceived  of  as  they  are 

2* 


34 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 


exhibited  by  a  right  natural  science,  are  not  powers  in 
any  sense.  They  are  simply  methods  according  to 
which  some  power  acts.  A  law  cannot  execute  itself. 
It  demands  an  executive  power  to  act  according  to 
it — to  fulfil  it.  A  law  without  this  power  within  it, 
is  a  dead  letter,  a  mere  idea  in  the  mind,  a  form  with¬ 
out  any  substance,  an  abstraction.  It  is  not  worth 
while  to  attempt  to  prove  this.  It  must  be  seen  to 
be  true,  or  argument  will  have  but  little  weight.  It 
may  be  well,  however,  to  cite  the  name  and  authority 
of  Newton.  His  life,  as  all  know,  was  spent  in  de¬ 
termining  the  laws  of  nature — of  the  universe.  In 
this  work  his  success  was  greater  and  more  splendid 
than  that  of  any  other  man  who  ever  turned  his  mind 
to  the  subject.  It  might  seem  to  be  gratuitous,  and 
even  out  of  place,  to  say  this  here,  except  for  the 
sake  of  recalling  all  that  is  suggested  of  his  labors 
by  the  one  word,  gravitation.  For  he  did  not  con¬ 
ceive  of  the  universe  as  a  great  machine  whose 
power  of  motion  was  the  law  of  gravitation  in  itself, 
which  God  had  formerly  created,  and  now  stood  by 
to  superintend  its  movements.  Therefore,  after  he 
had  determined  that  the  earth  and  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  indeed  all  things,  were  in  fact  moved 
according  to  this  law  or  method,  he  still  acknow¬ 
ledged  that  there  was  needed  a  power  thus  to  move 
the  universe  from  day  to  day  and  from  age  to  age. 
What  this  power  was,  he  did  not  even  attempt  scien¬ 
tifically  to  determine,  because  he  well  knew  that  this 
question  must  lead  him  entirely  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  legitimate  sphere  of  natural  science.  He  sup- 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 


35 


plied  this  power,  indeed,  yet  only  and  avowedly  by 
way  of  conjecture,  by  some  subtle  and  impalpable 
ether  which  he  supposed  might  perhaps  be  univer¬ 
sally  diffused  through  infinite  space.  But  by  this 
conjecture  he  only  threw  the  question  of  the  moving 
power  which  acts  according  to  the  law  of  gravitation, 
one  step  further  back :  he  did  not  solve  it,  as  is  evi¬ 
dent,  and  as  all  men  of  science  now  admit.  For  it 
immediately  recurs  again  in  this  form,  What  moves 
the  ether,  by  which  the  planets  are  moved  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  in  whatsoever  form  it 
may  occur,  is  wholly  without  the  sphere  of  natural 
science.  It  belongs  to  theology.  Therefore  it  is 
answered  by  God  himself  in  his  own  word.  In  it,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  Omnipresent,  Omnipotent,  Allwise 
Jehovah,  the  living  God,  is  revealed  as  always  and 
everywhere  the  one  power  whose  methods  of  action, 
which  he  voluntarily  chooses  for  himself,  and  which 
in  miracles  he  changes  at  pleasure,  we  call  the  laws 
of  nature.  He  is  the  working  power  throughout  the 
universe.  The  methods  of  action  which  he  has 
chosen  and  still  chooses  for  himself,  we  call,  doubt¬ 
less  with  the  greatest  propriety,  the  laws  of  gravita¬ 
tion,  chemical  attraction  and  repulsion,  capillary  at¬ 
traction,  and  by  other  like  names.  The  error  lies 
not  in  names,  but  in  losing  sight  of  the  power  which 
works  according  to  these  methods.  Wherever  any¬ 
thing  is  done  according  to  these  methods,  there  is 
Jehovah  doing  it.  Natural  science,  strictly  so  called, 
has  nothing  opposed  to  this  doctrine  of  God’s  revela¬ 
tion  to  man.  It  is  only  when  the  object  and  the 


H6  OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN, 

sphere  of  this  science  is  entirely  misunderstood,  as 
Newton  did  not  misunderstand  it,  that  it  is  supposed 
to  demonstrate  anything  contrary  to  that  view  of  his 
own  agency  which  God  has  given  in  his  word. 

Now,  therefore,  as  truly  as  of  old,  it  is  Jehovah,  the 
living  God,  not  the  or  do  or  dinars  oi  the  Pantheist, 
who  creates  the  light  and  divides  it  from  the  dark¬ 
ness.  Now  He  gathers  the  waters  together  into  one 
place,  and  causes  the  dry  land  to  appear,  as  truly  and 
directly  as  of  old.  Now'  He  causes  the  grass  and  herb 
and  tree  to  grow  out  of  the  ground.  He  sprouts  the 
germ  buried  in  the  heart  of  the  earth.  He  turns  it 
upwards  *to  the  light  and  heat,  rather  than  down¬ 
wards  into  the  cold  and  dark.  lie  draw's  the  juices 
of  the  earth  up  through  the  capillary  tubes.  With 
these  He  nourishes  and  strengthens  the  tender  plant. 
He  stretches  out  the  branches,  puts  forth  the  leaves, 
and  opens  the  buds  to  his  genial  light  and  warmth 
in  the  rays  of  the  sun.  He  blooms  the  flower,  and 
paints  it  with  its  various  and  beautiful  colors.  He 
elaborates  the  fruit,  and  ripens  it  for  the  food  of  man. 
He  rains  upon  the  dry  and  parched  earth.  He  causes 
the  streams  to  flow  down  the  hills  into  the  valleys  ; 
with  these  He  fertilizes  the  ground.  He  is  the  mov¬ 
ing  power  in  the  wind  and  the  storm.  He  stirs  up 
and  troubles  the  ocean.  His  wrath  is  the  wrath  of 
the  angry  deep.  He  maketh  the  storm  a  calm  so  that 
the  waves  thereof  he  still .  His  light  is  the  light  of 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  He  moves  the  planets  in 
their  vast  elliptical  orbits  around  their  focal  suns. 
From  the  centre  to  the  circumference,  He  is  present 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN* 


37 


doing  all  things  that  are  done  in  nature  by  those 
methods  which  he  chooses,  and  which  we  call  the 
laws  of  the  universe.  This  he  does  by  his  own 
free,  voluntary  choice  and  power  as  truly  and  di¬ 
rectly  as  upon  the  first  day  of  the  creation.  Nature 
of  itself  is  but  a  system  of  methods,  a  dead  organ¬ 
ism,  But  within,  under,  behind  (or  howsoever  it 
may  be  feebly  expressed)  the  laws,  methods  or  pro¬ 
cesses  of  nature,  is  the  Spirit,  the  living  God,  who 
upholds  and  moves  all  things,  as  they  are  upheld  and 
moved,  by  the  Omnipotent  Word  of  his  power. 

But  did  not  God  cease  from  his  work  of  creation 
after  the  sixth  day  ? 

Certainly  he  ceased  from  creating  new  forms,  but 
he  did  not  cease  from  creating  others  of  species  and 
kind  the  same  that  he  had  already  formed.  Since 
then  nothing  new  has  been  discovered  by  the  furthest 
extended  observations  of  natural  science,  except  in 
the  case  of  miracles.  But  did  he  cease  from  cre¬ 
ating  according  to  the  methods,  and  for  the  objects, 
described  in  the  account  of  these  six  days  ?  By  no 
means.  Thou  sendest  forth  thy  spirit — they  are 
created.  My  Father  worketh  hitherto ,  and  I  work. 

Therefore,  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  The  invisible 
things  of  Him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are 
clearly  seen ,  being  understood  from  the  things  which 
are  made ,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead.  The 
emphasis  is  to  be  laid  upon  the  expression  are  made 
or  done ,  revealing  the  truth  that  we  are  surrounded 
by  the  present,  direct  agency  of  God  Almighty.  In 
the  thunder,  in  the  roar  of  the  storm,  the  cataract, 


38 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 


and  the  troubled  ocean,  his  voice  is  to  be  heard  as 
truly  as  it  was  from  Mount  Sinai.  In  the  move¬ 
ments  of  the  planetary  spheres,  in  the  blooming  and 
clothing  of  the  flower,  in  the  falling  of  a  sparrow 
to  the  ground,  his  direct  agency  and  power  is  to  be 
seen  as  truly  as  in  the  raising  of  Lazarus  from  the 
dead.  And  in  the  creation  of  the  child  born  of 
human  parents,  his  hand  is  revealed  as  truly  as  in 
the  creation  of  Adam  from  the  dust  of  the  ground. 
Therefore  said  our  first  mother  when  her  eldest  son 
was  born,  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord. 
Therefore  is  the  child  of  Christian  parents,  when 
asked  the  question,  who  created  you ,  taught  to  an¬ 
swer,  God. 

For,  although  the  method  according  to  which  the 
thing  is  done,  is  modified  by  the  new  conditions 
which  are  introduced  in  the  relation  of  the  child  to 
its  human  parents,  yet  God  is  the  working  power  in 
the  creation  of  man  now  as  of  old.  He  creates  the 
first  elements  of  the  body.  He  draws  up  the  parti¬ 
cles  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  builds  up  the 
embrion  by  his  power  now  as  of  old.  He  forms  the 
brain,  heart,  nerves,  arteries,  veins,  blood,  bones  and 
flesh,  now  by  his  own  chosen  methods.  With  the 
dust  of  the  ground  drawn  up  by  his  own  power, 
and  prepared  in  his  own  laboratories,  He  nourishes 
and  strengthens  his  creature.  He  brings  the  child 
forth  into  the  world  and  breathes  into  its  nostrils 
the  breath  of  life,  so  that  it  becomes  a  living  soul. 
He  works  the  bellows  of  the  lungs,  and  the  hydrau¬ 
lic  organism  of  the  heart,  arteries  and  veins,  with  his 


OF  THE  CREATION  OF  MAN. 


39 


own  hand.  He  compounds  in  the  bosom  of  the 
mother  the  nourishment  which  she  gives  to  her  in¬ 
fant.  He  distributes  it  through  the  body  where  it  is 
needed.  God  creates  every  man  as  truly  as  he 
created  Adam.  God  made  me  is  the  only  truth 
which  can  produce  in  the  heart  of  man  the  feeling 
that  he  belongs  wholly  to  his  creator,  and  has  no 
right  to  appropriate  to  himself  the  property  of 
another. 


40 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 

“  Jehovah  God  formed  man.” 

“  God  created  man  in  his  own  image  ;  in  the  image  of  God  created 
he  him.” 

Here  also,  as  before,  it  is  man  as  such  who  is  spoken 
of  under  the  type  and  symbol,  the  representative  of 
the  whole  race  of  Adam.  The  application  of  the 
truth  which  is  set  forth  in  these  words  is  indeed  in 
part  limited  by  events  that  follow,  and  by  the  nature 
of  symbols  ;  yet  it  is  true  that  man  as  such  is  made 
in  the  image  of  God.  That  these  words  do,  in  some 
sense,  apply  to  all  men,  is  evident  from  the  Scrip¬ 
ture.  For  in  the  law  given  to  Noah  after  the  flood, 
the  reason  why  the  life  of  the  murderer  should  pay 
for  the  life  he  had  taken  is  that  man  was  made  in 
the  image  of  God.  This  reason,  as  is  evident  at  a 
glance,  has  no  force  except  upon  the  supposition 
that  the  murdered  man,  whoever  he  might  be,  was 
made  in  that  image  or  likeness.  Also  St.  James  de¬ 
clares  in  speaking  of  the  evil  of  the  unbridled 
tongue,  Therewith  bless  we  God  even  the  father ; 
and  therewith  curse  we  men  which  are  made  after  the 
similitude  of  God .  Here  it  is  given  in  express 
words  that  not  Adam  alone  formerly,  but  men  now 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 


41 


are  made  ill  the  image  of  God.  Nor  is  this  truth 
declared  less  explicitly  in  many  other  parts  of  the 
Scriptures. 

The  repetition  under  different  forms  of  the  truth 
expressed  in  these  words,  is  emphatical,  and  marks 
its  importance.  We  must  therefore  proceed  to  in¬ 
quire  what  this  image  or  likeness  of  God  in  man  is 
now,  and  what  it  was  in  the  first  man. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  as  universally  true,  that  the 
names  by  which  man  designates  the  attributes  of 
God,  are  originally  names  of  attributes  and  faculties 
and  qualities  which  he  finds  in  himself.  This  fact 
that  we  apply  to  God  the  same  terms  by  which  we 
describe  things  in  ourselves,  proves  that  we  have  dis¬ 
cerned  in  ourselves  the  likeness  or  image  of  God. 
For  we  do  not  call  by  the  same  names  things  which 
we  conceive  of  as  totally  unlike.  Indeed,  we  are 
not  able  to  conceive  of  anything  in  God  the  likeness 
of  which  we  do  not  find  in  ourselves.  Whatever 
there  may  be  in  him,  which  has  no  reflection  or 
similitude  whatever  in  man,  is  wholly  unknown  to  us. 
It  is  only  by  the  knowledge  of  this  truth  that  the 
force  of  St.  John’s  reasoning  can  be  felt,  where  he 
says,  We  know  that  we  shall  he  like  him  ;  for  we 
shall  see  him  as  he  is.  Here  he  gives  the  fact  that 
we  shall  see  God  as  he  is,  as  a  certain  proof  that  we 
shall  be  like  him.  But  if  it  were  possible  to  see 
God  as  he  is  without  being  like  him,  this  reasoning 
could  have  no  force.  For  example,  we  ascribe 
knowledge  to  God.  But  it  would  be  impossible  for 
us  to  do  this,  if  knowledge  to  some  degree  were 


42 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 


not  in  ourselves.  For  we  could  not  know  any¬ 
thing,  much  less  that  what  we  describe  by  this  woid 
is  an  attribute  of  God.  So  also  we  undei  stand  that 
God  is  a  Being ;  but  it  would  be  impossible  for  us 
to  know  this  if  we  had  no  being  ourselves.  We 
say  that  God  is  blessed ;  but  we  could  have  no  idea 
of  blessedness  unless  we  had  enjoyed  it  to  some  de¬ 
gree  in  ourselves.  We  could  not  say  that  God  is 
just,  with  any  intelligence  of  what  is  meant  by  that, 
if  there  were  not  in  us  at  least  a  similitude  of  justice. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  go  into  these  illustrations  in 
detail.  But  if  the  subject  be  examined  with  atten¬ 
tion  it  will  be  found  that  we  cannot  have  the  least 
conception  of  anything  in  God  the  likeness  01  simi¬ 
litude  of  which  we  do  not  find  in  ourselves.  But 
this  is  to  acknowledge  that  there  is  in  man  an 
image  of  God. 

In  order  the  better  to  understand  the  natui  e  and 
dependence  of  the  image  of  God  in  man,  we  may 
consider  the  likeness  of  himself  which  is  reflected 
when  a  man  looks  into  a  mirror.  For  everything 
which  he  beholds  in  this  likeness  is  the  reflection  of 
some  trait  in  his  own  person.  The  one  is  wholly 
dependent  upon  the  other.  While  he  gazes  it  exists. 
As  he  moves  it  moves.  When  he  turns  away  it 
perishes  as  if  it  had  never  been.  And  the  person  of 
the  man  is  a  being  wholly  transcendent  m  his  natui  e 
and  attributes  above  the  image  which  is  reflected. 

In  like  manner,  everything  in  man  which  has  not 
been  introduced  by  sin  (which  is  the  reflected  image 
not  of  God,  but  of  another),  is  the  likeness  or  simili- 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN.  43 

tude  of  something  in  his  Creator.  The  attributes  of 
the  infinite  God  reflected  in  a  finite  nature,  as  in  a 
mirror,  become  so  to  speak,  the  attributes  of  man. 
The  very  being  of  man  is  the  finite  reflection  of  the 
Being  of  God.  So  it  is  with  all  faculties  and  quali¬ 
ties,  sin  only  and  its  consequences  excepted,  which 
we  find  in  ourselves.  Our  thought,  knowledge,  voli¬ 
tion,  power,  and  will,  are  all  the  similitudes  reflected 
in  oui  finite  nature  of  his  infinite  and  transcendent 
attributes  which  we,  because  we  discern  this  like¬ 
ness,  feebly  attempt  to  describe  by  the  same  names. 
Even  his  Omnipresence  finds  itself  feebly  reflected 
in  our  limited  presence,  as  does  his  omnipotence  in 
our  finite  power. 

But  especially  is  it  to  be  observed  and  borne  in 
mind  in  order  to  the  right  understanding  of  the  nature 
of  the  sin  and  fall  of  man,  that  the  moral  and  spiritual 
in  him  is  the  reflection  of  that  in  God  which  we  call 
by  the  same  name.  This  by  eminence  is  the  image 
of  God  in  man  by  which  he  is  distinguished  above 
the  biute,  and  which  has  been  so  shockingly  defaced 
by  sin.  Justice,  holiness,  goodness,  and  truth — these 
have  no  existence  on  earth,  except  as  they  are 
reflected  in  us,  as  in  a  mirror,  by  that  in  God  which 
is  their  eternal  substance.  The  conscience  itself 
marking  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  as 
a  guide  of  practical  choice  between  good  and  evil, 
is  but  a  reflection  in  us  of  the  eternal  difference  and 
opposition  between  what  is  agreeable  with,  and  what 
is  opposed  to,  the  nature  of  God. 

No  less  is  everything  in  man  which  is  the  reflec- 


44 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 


tion  of  anything  in  God,  wholly  and  continually 
dependent  upon  him,  than  is  the  reflection  in  a  mirror 
wholly  and  continually  dependent  upon  its  substance. 
The  most  substantial  spiritual  being  of  man  is  a 
dependent  reflection  of  the  One  Being,  the  One  sub¬ 
stance,  the  One  Spirit,  God :  that  is  to  say,  it  is 
sustained  in  existence  by  the  pervading  presence  and 
ever-active  agency  of  God,  who  upholdeth  all  things 
by  the  Word  of  his  power ,  as  really  and  truly  as  the 
image  in  a  glass  is  sustained  in  existence  by  the  pre¬ 
sence  and  gaze  of  the  person  who  is  reflected.  If 
God  should  cease  to  gaze  into  the  mirror  of  time,  in 
which  he  reflects  himself,  the  race  of  man,  together 
with  the  whole  creation,  would  instantly  cease  to  be, 
as  the  figures  vanish  from  the  mirrors  when  the  com¬ 
pany  retires  from  the  thronged  hall.  Man  is  not 
even  capable  of  evil  except  as  he  is  upheld  and  sus¬ 
tained  in  existence  by  the  unceasing  action  of  the 
power  of  his  Creator. 

Also,  that  in  God  of  which  man  is  the  reflection  or 
image  infinitely  transcends  all  that  appears  in  man, 
as  the  living  person  in  his  nature  and  attributes 
transcends  his  likeness  in  a  glass.  This  is  one  of  the 
truths  which  are  expressed  by  that  great  and  terrible 
name,  so  sacred  that  the  pious  Jew  never  dared  to 
utter  it,  Jehovah.  The  meaning  of  this  word  as 
given  by  God  himself  is,  I  am  that  which  I  am.  I 
am  inscrutable,  incomprehensible  to  you.  None  hath 
ever  withdrawn  my  veil.  No  man  hath  seen  God  at 
any  time.  God  is  above  every  idea  or  conception 
which  we  can  form  or  have  of  him.  The  highest  and 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN.  45 

purest  and  most  comprehensive  ideas  which  we  can 
attach  to  the  words  being,  justice,  holiness,  know- 
ledge,  power,  truth,  goodness,  love,  mercy,  and  the 
like,  can  but  point  upwards  to  that  in  God  which  we 
call  by  these  names.  They  cannot  describe  God. 
That  in  him  towards  which  these  ideas  in  us  point 
upwards,  remains  ever  transcendent  above  all  that 
we  can  conceive.  When  we  have  ascribed  to  him 
all  possible  perfections,  in  the  highest  degree  con¬ 
ceivable  by  us,  still  God  is  not  just  that  which  we 
have  imagined  but  transcendently  above  it.  There¬ 
fore,  with  reason,  is  man  forbidden  to  make  unto 
himself  any  image  or  similitude  of  the  Eternal. 
Every  conceivable  image  or  representation  of  God, 
can  do  nothing  but  degrade  him.  For  every  creature 
that  God  has  made  he  is  eternally  Jehovah,  I  am  that 
which  I  am  ;  unto  whom  no  forms,  no  words,  no 
images,  no  ideas  can  possibly  attain. 

If  now  we  conceive  of  this  likeness  or  image  of 
God  in  man  as  perfect  and  exact,  not  distorted  like  the 
reflection  cast  from  a  broken  or  distorted  mirror,  yet 
still,  after  the  manner  of  the  infinite  in  the  finite,  we 
shall  have  perhaps  the  best  idea  which  is  possible  of 
the  image  of  God  in  the  first  man.  It  was  reflected 
in  him  as  the  starry  heavens  in  the  pure  and  serene 
lake,  when  it  is  unruffled  by  a  breath  of  air,  and  un¬ 
defiled  by  the  swollen  mountain  streams.  And  his 
perfection  was  maintained  by  recognising  himself  as 
a  reflection,  and  but  a  reflection  of  God.  The  mo¬ 
ment  he  should  aspire  to  independence  of  choice, 
agency  and  life,  he  must  sin,  err,  and  fall.  This 


46 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 


would  introduce  a  violation  of  all  law  and  order 
into  the  spiritual  world  as  great,  inexplicable,  and 
terrible  as  would  be  manifested  in  nature  if  the 
reflection  in  a  glass  should  assume  an  independent 
life  and  action,  and  begin  to  mock  and  caricature  the 
features  and  actions  of  the  person  from  whom  it  is 
reflected.  Iniquity  is,  and  must  be,  a  mystery .  Thus 
defaced  and  distorted  is  now  the  likeness  of  God  in 
man. 

The  image  of  God  thus  reflected  in  the  finite 
nature  of  man,  was  again  reflected  and  symbolized 
in  his  outward  and  material  form.  His  upright  posi¬ 
tion  became  the  symbol  and  expression  of  his  inte¬ 
grity,  justice — of  his  internal  uprightness.  Hence 
the  word  upright  comes  to  signify  justice  in  man. 
Thus  to  stand  signifies  to  be  innocent  and  just ;  to 
fall  is  to  sin.  The  freedom  of  his  movement  in  every 
direction,  his  unfettered  arms  and  hands,  as  con¬ 
trasted  with  the  confined  limbs  of  the  brute,  reflected 
the  freedom  of  his  will  and  choice.  Hence  we  speak 
of  the  freedom  of  the  will.  His  clear  and  lofty  eye 
became  the  symbol  of  his  intelligence.  Hence,  to  see 
passes  over  into  a  more  spiritual  sense  and  means 
also  to  know.  And  so  it  is  with  other  things.  For, 
that  the  nature  of  man  is  in  some  sort  reflected  in  his 
outward  feature  and  form  has  been  always  perceived, 
and  is  evident  indeed  from  the  effect  which  is  pro¬ 
duced  upon  us  by  the  supposition  of  this  nature  resi¬ 
dent  in  the  form  of  a  brute,  or  of  a  purely  brute 
nature  in  the  form  of  a  man.  We  are  instantly 
shocked  and  revolted.  In  the  one  case,  we  feel  that 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 


47 


the  form  would  be  a  prison  for  the  nature,  not  a 
home ;  in  the  other,  the  creature  would  be  a  monster 
and  chained  or  destroyed.  This  was  seen  and  ex¬ 
pressed  by  the  heathen  poet  in  ever  memorable 
words. 

“Pronaque  cum  spectent  animalia  caetera  terram, 

Os  homini  sublime  dedit,  ccelumque  tueri 
Jussit,  et  erectos  ad  sidera  tollere  vultus.”* 

The  full,  constant,  living  feeling  of  the  truth  set 
forth  in  this  account  of  the  creation  of  man  in  the 
image  of  God,  is  the  only  effectual  safeguard  against 
anthropomorphism ,  which  is  the  attempt  to  attain  unto 
God  by  bringing  him  down  to  us.  This  delusion  and 
sin  is  one  of  those  to  which  the  man  of  every  age 
and  country  is  most  prone.  It  is  scarcely  less  com¬ 
mon  now  among  Christians  than  it  was  among  the 
Greeks  when  Paul  preached  against  it  in  Athens, 
though  doubtless  in  a  greatly  softened  form.  To 
warn  us  against  it  God  gives  us  his  great  and  terrible 
name  Jehovah ,  to  teach  us  that  all  the  image  of  him 
there  can  be  in  us  is  but  an  imago ,  a  reflection,  which 
must  be  infinitely  transcended  by  its  substance  in 
him.  For  this  purpose  he  declares,  My  thoughts 
are  not  as  your  thoughts ,  nor  my  ways  as  your  ways. 

*  “  While  in  their  form  and  in  their  nature  prone, 

All  other  creatures  downwards  look  to  earth, 

Feature  and  form  sublime  to  man  He  gave 
And  bade  him  gaze  with  steady  eye  to  heaven.” 

Ovid  I.,  Met.  II. 


48 


OF  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD  IN  MAN. 


But  high  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth ,  so  high 
are  my  thoughts  above  your  thoughts ,  and  my  ways 
above  your  ways.  We  are  constantly  prone  to  con 
ceive  of  God  as  altogether  such  an  one  as  ourselves. 
Too  often  we  forget  that  he  is  the  incomprehensible 
one ;  in  all  his  modes  of  being  and  attributes,  as  far 
above  the  most  sublime  flight  of  our  thoughts  as  the 
fixed  stars  are  above  the  reach  of  a  human  arm ; 
transcending  all  our  conceptions  as  the  substance  and 
person  of  a  man  transcends  his  likeness  reflected  in  a 
mirror.  Only  this  truth  can  guard  us  against  the 
presumption,  the  folly,  the  madness  of  that  which  is 
one  form  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  of  attempting  to  scan 
his  ways  and  his  wisdom,  and  to  justify  them  in  oui 
eyes.  We  cannot  measure  and  judge  of  the  Godlike 
power  and  Wisdom,  the  awful  Justice  and  Holiness, 
the  infinite  Blessedness,  the  incomprehensible  Love 
and  Mercy  of  Jehovah,  by  our  ideas  of  these  things 
—ideas  which  must  be  derived  from  the  dependent, 
and  now  distorted,  reflection  in  us,  and  not  from  the 
perfect  and  eternal  substance  in  him. 

It  is  before  Jehovah  alone  that  we  truly  bow. 
Only  in  presence  of  the  Incomprehensible  aie  oui 
minds  subdued  to  faith.  The  Infinite  only  can  we 
truly  adore.  Only  by  Truth,  Holiness  and  Love 
transcending  all  our  conceptions,  can  our  hearts  be 
brought  back  to  that  sincerity  and  solemnity  which 
were  revealed  in  Christ,  and  imbreathed  with  that 
divine  all-hallowing  love  which  is  the  peace  that 
passeth  all  understanding ,  the  joy  of  God  unspeaka¬ 
ble  and  full  of  glory. 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


49 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OF  THE  TWO-FOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 

“  Jehovah  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul.” 

It  would  require  a  book  instead  of  a  chapter  to 
discuss  the  distinction  which  is  marked  in  these 
words.  It  is  that  of  all  most  fundamental,  and  neces¬ 
sary  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  Scriptural  view 
ot  man,  and  of  his  sin.  Also  it  is  one  most  liable  to 
continual  misapprehension.  It  is  the  distinction  be¬ 
tween  that  in  man  which  is  of  the  earth  earthy,  and 
that  which  is  of  the  Lord  from  heaven. 

These  two  natures,  an  earthly  or  material,  and  a 
moi  al  or  spiritual,  are  in  the  unity  of  one  person. 
The  substance  of  the  one  is  here  said  to  be  drawn 
from  the  dust  of  the  ground  ;  the  other  is  described 
as  the  breath  of  Jehovah.  The  confusion  of  these 
two  natur es,  the  mistaking  of  the  functions  and  mani¬ 
festations  of  the  one  for  those  of  the  other,  is  abso¬ 
lutely  fatal  to  a  right  view  of  the  sin  and  fall  of  the 
human  race.  W e  must  proceed  therefore  to  consi¬ 
der  the  distinction  between  them. 

The  leading  characteristics  of  the  earthly  nature 
in  man  are  easily  marked,  because,  in  common  with 

him,  they  are  found  also  in  the  brute,  isolated  from 

3 


50 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


that  which  is  moral  and  spiritual,  and  thus  in  a  man¬ 
ner  defined.  Whatever  we  find  in  the  animal  crea¬ 
tion,  we  may  know  cannot  be  peculiar  to  that  in 
man  which  is  moral  and  spiritual.  What  we  do  not 
find  in  any  degree  in  the  brute,  we  may  know  is,  in 
man,  of  a  higher  origin  than  this  earth. 

In  the  brute,  then,  we  have  the  material  body  and 
form,  with  the  senses  which  are  seated  in  it.  To 
these  belong  their  corresponding  appetites  and  de¬ 
sires,  the  pleasures  of  gratification  and  pains  of  pri¬ 
vation.  In  the  brute  nature,  also,  are  found  certain 
passions  and  affections,  such  as  are  necessary  for  its 
support,  defence  and  propagation.  The  love  between 
the  male  and  the  female,  and  the  storge ,  or  affection 
of  the  parent  for  its  offspring,  are  examples. 

At  the  head  of  this  nature  in  the  brute  is  a  certain 
faculty  of  knowledge  or  sensual  wisdom.  This,  in 
some  animals,  as  in  the  dog,  rises  very  high,  and 
manifests  itself  in  many  things  which,  when  observed 
in  man,  are  often  supposed  to  be  the  attributes  of, 
and  peculiar  to,  his  spiritual  nature.  This  is  that  con¬ 
fusion  which  proves  so  fatal  to  the  right  understand¬ 
ing  of  the  Word  of  God.  For  by  reason  of  the  sin 
of  man,  and  of  the  preternatural  development  of  the 
earthly  nature  in  him,  and  of  the  feebleness  of  the 
action  of  the  spiritual,  he  has  come  to  regard  that 
which  belongs  to  this  earth,  and  is  found  in  common 
with  him  in  the  brute,  as  of  celestial  origin.  This 
sensual  wisdom  in  animals  is  capable  of  the  foresight 
ol  an  object  to  be  attained,  and  of  a  process  of  rea¬ 
soning  by  which  it  adapts  means  to  the  attainment  of  it. 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN.  51 

That  many  brutes  have  the  capacity  of  reasoning,  at 
least  in  some  degree,  and  of  drawing  logical  conclu¬ 
sions  in  view  of  the  end  which  they  seek  to  accom¬ 
plish,  is  beyond  all  doubt.  Examples  of  this  will  be 
given  when  we  come  to  consider  the  subtlety  of  the 
serpent.  But  that  which  is  of  most  importance  to 
observe,  is  that  this  sensual  wisdom  in  the  brute,  by 
whatever  processes  of  reasoning  it  may  reach  its 
piactical  conclusions,  is  conversant  only  with  the 
things  which  belong  to  this  life,  and  which  perish  in 
the  using.  It  gives  all  its  practical  judgments  solely 
fiom  the  earthly  point  of  view,  for  the  gratification  of 
the  appetites,  desires  and  affections  of  the  animal, 
without  any  reference  to  right  and  wrong,  to  the  un¬ 
seen  and  eternal  world,  or  to  God.  Of  these  things 
the  brute  manifests  not  the  least  intelligence. 

In  man,  also,  there  is  a  brute  nature,  with  all  these 
characteristics.  But  especially  is  this  same  faculty 
of  sensual  wisdom  which  stands  at  its  head  to  be 
noted.  It  manifests  itself  in  him  precisely  as  it  does 
in  the  brute,  only  in  a  higher  degree.  It  gives  its 
practical  judgments  from  the  earthly  point  of  view, 
for  the  gratification  of  the  desires,  appetites  and  af¬ 
fections  of  the  earthly  nature  at  whose  head  it  stands. 
Its  sphere  is  the  mortal  life.  It  reasons  in  view  of 
earthly  objects,  thus  adapting  its  means  to  its  ends. 
It  is  the  working  power  in  the  prosecution  of  merely 

human  science.  It  looks  not  beyond  the  objects  of 
sense. 

This  sensual  wisdom  in  man,  the  head  of  his  earthly 
nature,  in  virtue  of  its  union  in  him  with  a  higher  na- 


52 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


ture,  whose  light  is  reflected  upon  it,  is  indeed  greatly 
elevated  and  enlarged  above  all  that  appears  in  the 
brute.  Hence  have  arisen  its  great  conquests  in  the 
domain  of  the  physical  sciences.  But  however  high  it 
may  rise,  it  can  never  become  spiritual,  nor  attain  to 
immortality.  Its  results  can  never  be  permanent  and 
imperishable.  What  is  to  become  of  geology  and 
mineralogy  and  chemistry,  when  the  earth  shall  be 
no  more  ?  What  is  to  become  of  Astronomy  when 
the  heavens  shall  have  waxed  old  as  a  garment  and 
been  folded  up  by  the  hand  of  the  Eternal  ?  Where 
will  be  the  purest  forms  of  Geometrv  when  time  and 
space  shall  be  no  longer  ?  For  with  God  there  is  no 
past  or  future,  no  far  or  near ;  and  he  only  sees  all 
things  as  they  truly  are.  The  heathen  themselves 
were  not  ignorant  of  this.  Therefore  Plato  insisted 
upon  the  study  of  mathematics  as  an  intermediate 
step  in  education  to  the  knowledge  of  eternal  things. 
He  knew  that  this  science  was  not  in  itself  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  imperishable.  This,  and  all  beneath  it, 
is  that  knowledge  which  shall  vanish  away. 

When  a  man  falls  wholly  under  the  guidance  of 
this  wisdom,  which  is  conversant  only  with  the  things 
that  perish,  he  gives  his  practical  judgments  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  appetites,  desires  and  affections,  from  the 
earthly  point  of  view,  without  reference  to  right  and 
wrong,  to  the  spiritual  and  unseen  world,  or  to  God, 
as  tiuly  as  it  is  possible  for  the  brute  to  do.  He  may 
reach  his  conclusions  by  means  of  a  more  compre¬ 
hensive  induction  of  particulars,  through  longer,  more 
complicated  and  more  accurate  processes  of  reason- 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


53 

\ . 

ing,  therefore  with  a  more  intelligent  and  certain 
foresight,  but  the  faculty  and  power  by  which  he 
does  all  this,  differs  from  that  in  the  brute  only  in 
degree.  It  can  never  attain  to  the  true  knowledge  of 
God  and  divine  things.  He  who  seeks  to  know  God 
by  means  of  it  alone,  must  remain  in  blindness. 
Hence  it  is  that  the  sciences  of  which  it  is  the  instru¬ 
ment  are  found  flourishing  in  greatest  vigor,  and 
bearing  their  highest  blossoms  and  fruit,  side  by  side 
with  the  rankest  infidelity  and  atheism.  Never  did 
this  wisdom  develope  and  unfold  itself  more  power¬ 
fully,  nor  attain  to  greater  perfection,  than  it  did  in 
the  French  philosophers  of  the  last  century.  Never 
did  it  reason  more  logically  from  the  only  principles 
which  it  is  capable  of  receiving  than  it  did  when  it 
reached  the  conclusion,  that  there  is  no  right  and 
wrong  but  pleasure  and  pain,  no  spiritual  and  unseen 
world,  no  immortality,  no  God.  These  are  the  only 
results  which  it  is  possible  to  attain  by  following  that 
wisdom  which  is  in  its  own  nature  and  origin  earthly , 
and  which,  adopted  as  the  supreme  guide  of  life,  and 
depended  upon  as  the  revelator  of  spiritual  truth,  be¬ 
comes  devilish.  This  wisdom  is  the  light  of  the 
earthly  nature  in  man,  as  it  is  in  the  brute.  It  is  to 
be  held  in  perfect  subjection  to  the  spiritual  in  him  ; 
and  thus  held,  both  in  human  and  divine  things,  its 
operations  are  legitimate  and  most  useful.  But  trans¬ 
ported  into  the  domain  of  spiritual  life  as  a  criterion 
and  law  of  absolute  truth,  it  becomes  a  most  perni¬ 
cious  sophist.  It  can  give  only  negative  results,  and 
these  negatives  are  lies.  There  is  no  God.  The 


54 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  spirit  of 
God,  foi  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  ;  neither  can 
he  know  them  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned. 
This  is  that  knowledge  which  pujfeth  up ;  so  that 
carried  away  by  it,  man  disdains  the  meekness  and 
lowliness  of  mind  and  self-sacrifice  and  holiness  of 
Christ.  He  discerns  no  beauty  in  these  that  he  should 
desire  them.  This  is  the  wisdom  which,  because  he 
has  fallen  so  completely  under  its  guidance  and  con¬ 
trol,  is  called  in  Scripture  the  wisdom  of  man,  in  op- 
position  to  the  Wisdom  of  God. 

Such  is  the  earthly  nature  of  man  with  its  wisdom. 
If  there  were  nothing  more  of  him  than  this,  he 

would  be  but  the  first  of  brutes,  as  one  animal  is 
superior  to  another. 

But  into  this  nature  God  breathed  his  own  breath 
as  the  breath  of  its  life,  and  man  became  a  living 
soul  This  describes  his  moral  and  spiritual  nature. 
Its  peculiar  attributes  are  never  found  in  the  brute. 
It  is  true  indeed  that  this  higher  nature  contains  in 
itself  all  the  perfections  of  the  lower.  It  is  essen¬ 
tially  intelligent  and  reasonable.  But  its  grand 
chaiacteristic  is  that  it  cannot  be  satisfied  with  the 
knowledge  of  visible  and  earthly  and  changing  and 
perishable  things.  It  pierces  through  all  things  that 
aie  seen  and  felt,  through  all  the  objects  of  the 
senses,  after  a  cause  which  is  not  seen.  It  recog¬ 
nises  within  and  behind  all  things  that  appear  a 
substance  which  does  not  appear.  It  perceives  the 
necessity  that  under  all  the  changing  and  fleeting 
phenomena  ol  the  senses,  there  should  be  a  cause 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


55 


and  substance  in  virtue  of  which  they  arise  and 
exist  and  depart,  but  which  is  not  subject  to  their 
imperfections,  to  their  mutations,  nor  to  their  decay. 
That  is  to  say,  in  this  nature  is  the  capacity  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  unseen  and  spiritual  world,  of 
right  and  wrong,  of  immortality,  of  God.  By  it 
alone  is  the  true  God  recognised  as  the  living  God , 
in  opposition  to  that  merely  logical  scheme  of  truth 
which  is  called  God  by  Spinoza,  and  which  can  have 
no  power  over  the  heart  and  life  of  man.  In  it 
alone  is  the  capacity  of  love  to  God,  of  joy  in  obey¬ 
ing  and  pleasing  him,  and  of  the  enjoyment  of  his 
love.  This  it  is  which  feels  the  consciousness  of 
immortality,  and  recognises  itself  as  a  citizen  of  the 
eternal  world. 

The  things  which  the  natural  man,  as  he  is  now 
found,  hates,  which  are  foolishness  to  him,  the  spi¬ 
ritual  man  in  his  original  state,  loved.  And  as  new 
created,  raised  from  the  dead  under  the  gospel,  he 
discerns  in  the  meekness  and  lowliness  of  mind, 
and  self-denial  for  the  good  of  others,  and  holiness 
of  Christ,  a  divine,  overpowering  beauty,  a  glory 
which  fills  him  with  unutterable  love  and  desire  to 
be  like  Christ.  Instead  of  being  foolishness  to  him, 
these  things  are  seen  and  felt  to  be  the  highest  wis¬ 
dom  as  the  law  of  his  own  life  and  actions.  The 
true  transfiguration  of  the  Word  and  Wisdom  of 
God  takes  place  in  his  heart,  of  which  that  upon 
Mount  Tabor  was  but  the  feeble  type  and  symbol. 
The  knowledge  of  the  power  and  glory  of  these 
things  as  they  are  revealed  in  Christ,  is  the  know- 


56 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN, 


ledge  of  imperishable  and  eternal  things.  Compared 
with  this  all  other  knowledge  is  but  an  unsubstantial 
and  fleeting  shadow.  Charity  only  never  faileth . 

As  at  the  head  of  the  earthly  nature  in  man  stands 
this  sensual  wisdom  which  has  been  described,  so  at 
the  head  of  his  spiritual  nature  stands  the  con¬ 
science.  This  was  intended  to  be  a  tablet  in  the 
heart  bearing  engraved  upon  itself  the  Wisdom  of 
God  as  the  law  of  man’s  life  and  actions.  It  may 
be  compared  to  an  eye,  by  which  the  path  which  the 
Wisdom  of  God  traces  out  for  his  children  is  dis¬ 
cerned  ;  or  to  a  window,  through  which  the  light  of 
God,  and  of  the  eternal  world,  shines  into  the  soul. 
And,  better  still  perhaps,  it  is  the  ear  through  which 
the  Voice,  the  Word  of  God  is  heard  uttering  his 
distinctions  between  good  and  evil,  that  man  may 
know  to  choose  and  to  refuse  aright. 

For  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  conscience 
claims  for  itself  an  absolute,  supreme,  irresponsible 
authority.  It  does  not  hold  itself  amenable  to  any¬ 
thing  in  man,  but  it  claims  the  whole  man  as  ame¬ 
nable  to  itself.  Its  most  marked,  and  indeed  its 
essential  attribute,  when  truly  heard,  is  its  authority. 
This  authority  assumes  to  be  paramount  to  all  other 
forms  of  wisdom,  and  prudence,  no  less  than  over 
all  the  desires,  appetites  and  affections.  It  holds 
even  thought  subordinate.  Therefore  evil  thoughts 
according  to  the  wisdom  of  Christ,  are  wickedness.’ 

It  does  not  base  its  distinctions  between  right  and 
wiong,  noi  the  authority  of  its  commands  and  pro¬ 
hibitions,  upon  any  prudential  calculation  of  profit 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


57 


and  loss  ;  upon  any  good  which  man  can  foresee  as 
resulting  from  the  choice  of  the  right,  or  evil  foreseen 
as  connected  with  the  wrong.  It  gives  forth  au¬ 
thoritative  distinctions  between  these  things,  without 
respect  to  man’s  insights  and  reasonings  upon  the 
fruit  of  actions.  It  marks  for  man  one  thing  as 
right,  and  commands  him  to  love,  to  choose  and 
to  do  that  thing ;  while  within  and  under  this  in¬ 
junction  is  the  assurance,  that  thus  it  shall  be  well 
with  him ;  he  shall  live.  It  stigmatizes  another 
thing  as  wrong,  and  forbids  him  to  love,  and  to 
choose,  and  to  do  it ;  giving,  as  before,  within  the 
prohibition,  the  warning  that,  doing  this,  it  shall  not 
be  well  with  him  ;  he  shall  die.  But  the  conscience 
gives  no  further  account  of  itself.  It  tells  him  not 
whence  it  cometh ,  nor  whither  it  goeth.  It  does  not 
even  inform  him  that  the  life  it  promises  and  the 
death  it  denounces  have  any  consequential  connex¬ 
ion  with  the  things  it  commands  and  forbids.  Often 
it  takes  part  against  the  clearest  foresight  of  the 
fruit  of  actions  which  is  possible  for  man.  For  al¬ 
though  he  be  assured  that,  by  deceiving  his  neigh¬ 
bor  to  his  hurt,  he  can  gain  the  greatest  advantage ; 
although  he  may  not  be  able  to  conceive  how  any 
evil  should  ever  come  to  himself  out  of  this  act, 
yet,  if  he  hear  the  conscience  truly,  he  will  hear  a 
distinct  command  enunciated  in  his  heart,  with  abso¬ 
lute  authority,  This  is  wrong ;  this  thou  shalt  not 
do  ;  doing  this  it  shall  not  he  well  with  thee ;  thou 
shalt  surely  die.  And  when  he  is  called  to  give 
impartial  justice  between  himself  and  his  neighbor, 

3* 


58 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


although  he  may  not  be  able  to  see  what  benefit  can 
accrue  to  himself  from  it,  although  it  may  require 
him  to  reduce  himself  to  beggary,  deprive  his  wife 
and  children  of  all  support,  and  cast  them  helpless 
upon  the  charities  of  the  world,  and  even  to  sacrifice 
his  own  life,  yet,  if  he  hear  the  conscience  truly,  it 
will  utter  but  one  command  in  his  heart,  as  before, 
with  the  voice  of  absolute  authority,  This  is  right 
and  good  ;  this  do ,  and  it  shall  be  well  with  thee  ; 
thou  shalt  live.  This  is  the  informing  light,  the 
wisdom,  the  law  of  man’s  spiritual  nature.  This, 
because,  where  it  is  truly  and  purely  heard,  where 
other  voices  are  not  mistaken  for  its  voice,  it  is  a  re¬ 
velation  of  God’s  distinctions  between  what  is  good 
and  evil,  is  called  in  the  Scriptures  the  Wisdom  of 
God  in  man.  That  it  is  through  the  conscience  that 
the  voice  and  authority  of  God  truly  reaches  the 
human  soul,  is  evident  from,  and  acknowledged  by 
all  Christians  in  this  fact,  that  when  a  sinner  is  con¬ 
victed  of  his  sin  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  is  in  the  con¬ 
science  that  this  conviction  is  felt. 

These  two  natures  in  man  centre  in  the  unity  of 
one  person  in  the  will.  This  is  the  power  of  practi¬ 
cal  choice.  It  is  the  seat  and  centre  of  personality. 
It  stands,  as  it  were  (for  here  everything  must  be 
expressed  by  figures),  between  the  earthly  and  spirit¬ 
ual  in  man,  united  to  both ;  between  the  sensual  wis¬ 
dom  and  the  conscience,  comprehending  and  receiv- 
ing  both  into  itself;  solicited  by  the  one,  commanded 
and  obliged  by  the  other. 

Most  inadequate  and  feeble  is  this  view ;  for  here 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


59 


all  words  can  but  mock  and  caricature  the  reality. 
But  it  may  serve  to  exhibit  the  possibility  for  man 
of  two  very  different  characters  and  courses  of  life. 
For  on  the  one  side,  is  the  wisdom  of  the  earthly 
nature,  giving  its  practical  judgments  from  the  earthly 
point  of  view,  according  to  the  appetites,  desires  and 
affections  which  belong  to  this  nature,  and  according 
to  what  seems  good  in  its  own  eyes.  On  the  other 
hand  is  the  spiritual  nature,  with  its  knowledge  of 
God,  and  of  the  eternal  world,  and  its  consciousness 
of  immortality,  with  its  light  and  law,  the  authorita¬ 
tive  commands  and  prohibitions  of  the  conscience. 
Each  of  these  prompts  the  will  to  choose  according 
to  itself. 

As  the  will  turns  its  face  away  from  the  con¬ 
science  to  the  light  of  the  sensual  nature,  receives 
the  authoritative  wisdom  of  the  conscience  with  re¬ 
ference  to  the  sensual  wisdom,  obeys  the  latter  in 
opposition  to  the  former,  it  becomes  the  will  of  the 
flesh.  The  man  chooses  and  acts  and  lives  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  own  wisdom ,  fleshly  wisdom ,  sensual  wis¬ 
dom,  the  carnal  mind.  His  joys  are  the  pleasures  of 
the  sense,  and  of  the  knowledge  peculiar  to  this  mind. 
He  lives  after  the  flesh.  The  light  of  his  life,  his  law 
of  practical  choice  between  good  and  evil,  is  the 
wisdom  of  the  flesh.  The  spiritual  is  subjugated  and 
controlled  by  the  carnal.  The  free  will  itself,  origi¬ 
nally,  truly,  and  properly  spiritual  and  free,  falls 
under  the  dominion  of  nature,  of  the  earthly  in  man. 
The  earthly  nature  enters  into  the  spiritual,  so  to 
speak ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  reflected  in  it,  thereby  de- 


m 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN. 


grading  and  defiling  and  corrupting  it  by  reducing  it 
to  bondage,  when  it  was  intended  to  be  superior  and 
to  control.  Thus  its  light  is  darkened.  The  con¬ 
science  is  dethroned  from  its  original  and  rightful 
supremacy,  and  its  oracles*  although  not  wholly 
drowned  by  the  turmoil  and  clamor  of  rebellious  pas¬ 
sions,  aie  no  longer  heard  with  the  ancient  fulness 
and  ceitainty  and  authority.  Thus  it  is  now  with 
man  in  his  natural  state. 

But  on  the  contrary,  as  the  will  receives  the  soli¬ 
citations  of  the  earthly  nature  with  sole  reference  to 
the  obliging  and  controlling  power  of  the  conscience ; 
holds  all  the  judgments  of  the  sensual  wisdom  in  sub¬ 
ordination  to  the  Wisdom  of  God,  with  its  face  turned 
steadily  to  the  shrine  of  his  oracles  5  accepts  the  au¬ 
thority  of  God  thus  revealed  as  supreme,  and  chooses 
accoiding  to  his  commands,  it  is  a  spiritual  will.  The 
light  of  the  spiritual  and  superior  nature  is  reflected 
upon  the  earthly  and  subordinate  nature,  controlling 
all  the  practical  judgments  of  the  sensual  wisdom, 
into  harmony  with  the  Wisdom  of  God ;  so  that  all 
the  acts  of  the  man  have  a  spiritual  character, 
which  no  act  can  have  in  the  brute.  Whether  he 
eat  or  drink,  he  does  all  with  unconditional  reference 
to  the  oracles  of  the  conscience  to  know  what  is  com¬ 
manded  and  forbidden  there.  No  outward  act  which 
he  voluntarily  chooses  can  be  indifferent.  In  some 
sort,  the  whole  man  is  spiritual.  He  loves  and  re¬ 
joices  in  the  holy,  in  meekness  and  humility  and 
purity,  in  God.  This  is  his  meat  and  his  drink,  to 
please  God,  He  walks  with  God.  God  dwells  with 


OF  THE  TWOFOLD  NATURE  OF  MAN.  61 

nim  and  in  him,  as  the  light  and  wisdom  of  his  life. 
Thus  we  may  conceive  of  man  in  his  original  state. 

That  which  is  here  to  be  observed  and  borne  in 
mind,  as  necessary  that  man  should  continue  in  the 
estate  in  which  he  was  created,  at  unity  with  God 
and  with  himself,  is  the  complete  subordination  of 
the  earthly  nature  with  its  wisdom  to  the  spiritual 
and  its  informing  light,  the  wisdom  of  God  revealed 
through  the  conscience  in  the  form  of  authority. 
The  inferiority  and  subjection  of  the  one,  and  the 
superiority  and  control  of  the  other,  are  the  truths 
which  are  here  symbolized  by  the  earthly  and  divine 
sources  from  which  respectively  they  are  derived. 
The  one  is  of  the  earth,  earthy,  the  light  of  the  other 
is  the  Lord  from  heaven .  Nor  are  these  words  mis¬ 
applied.  For  it  was  the  same  Word  of  God,  which 
was  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  he  was  the 
embodiment  or  incarnation,  called  in  the  passage 
here  alluded  to  the  Lord  from  heaven,  which  created 
man,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  his  own  breath  as 
the  spirit  of  man’s  life.  It  was  this  Word  of  God 
whose  oracles  of  distinction  between  good  and  evil 
were  made  known  through  the  conscience  of  man 
with  absolute  authority ;  and  which,  though  now 
they  are  scarcely,  heard  and  but  little  heeded,  and 
often  confounded  with  the  voice  of  passion,  and  the 
judgments  of  the  sensual  wisdom,  were  given  to  the 
first  man  with  all  fulness  and  certainty  and  power. 


62 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

'  '  V  •  .  ’ 

OF  MARRIAGE. 

“Jehovah  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  the  man,  and  he 
took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  thereof ;  and  the  rib 
which  Jehovah  God  had  taken  from  man,  made  he  into  a  woman, 
and  brought  her  unto  the  man.” 

“  Male  and  female  created  he  them,  and  blessed  them,  and 
called  their  name  Man.” 

The  symbolical  and  significant  character  of  this  ac¬ 
count  of  the  creation  of  woman  has  always  been 
perceived.  The  truths  which  are  drawn  from  it  by 
the  Lord  and  his  Apostles  are  of  the  highest  import¬ 
ance,  and  indispensable  to  the  right  understanding 
of  the  sin  of  the  first  man,  in  hearkening  to  the  voice 
of  his  wife  rather  than  to  the  voice  of  God.  In  this 
symbol  is  contained  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  mar¬ 
riage  relation  between  man  and  woman,  as  the  whole 
gospel  is  contained  in  the  sacraments. 

The  first  truth  here  symbolized  is  that  the  husband 
and  wife  are  one,  as  the  body  of  the  woman  was 
made  out  of  a  part  of  the  body  of  the  man.  This 
is  also  set  forth  in  the  words,  He  called  their  name , 
Man.  That  this  was  signified  by  this  manner  of  the 
creation  of  his  wife  was  immediately  perceived  by 
Adam,  and  expressed.  This  is  now  hone  of  my 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


63 


bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  ;  she  shall  be  called 
woman *  because  she  was  taken  out  of  man .  Also  the 
Lord  declares  that  this  unity  was  not  to  be  confined 
to  the  first  man  and  woman,  by  applying  the  words, 
They  twain  shall  be  one  flesh ,  to  the  men  and  women 
of  his  day. 

This  union  between  man  and  woman  in  marriage 
is  mystical.  It  cannot  be  explained  in  words,  nor 
yet  perhaps  distinctly  conceived  of  in  idea.  It  is 
none  the  less  real  and  true.  The  union  between  the 
soul  and  the  body  is  mystical ;  that  between  Christ 
and  the  believer  is  mystical ;  yet  both  are  none  the 
less  real  and  true.  The  man  and  his  wife  were  at 
first,  and  are  intended  now  to  be,  as  truly  one  as 
that  from  which  the  body  of  the  woman  was  formed 
was  truly  a  part  of  the  body  of  man. 

But  in  order  to  know  in  what  the  man  and  woman 
are  one,  and  in  what  they  are  not  one,  by  marriage, 
we  must  carefully  observe  the  force  of  the  words 
which  are  used  in  the  New  Testament  to  describe 
this  unity.  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh 
of  my  flesh.  They  twain  shall  be  one  flesh.  To 
this  language,  taken  in  its  greatest  rigor,  both  Jesus 
and  his  Apostles  carefully  confine  themselves  in 
their  explanation  of  the  doctrines  of  marriage.  But 
when  they  describe  the  unity  between  Christ  and 
the  believer,  they  ascend  to  more  spiritual  expres- 

■  V  .  .  v  ^  * 

*  She  shall  be  called  female-man,  wombman,  woman,  be- 

T  • 

cause  she  was  taken  out  of  man,  as  distinguished  from 

woman.  The  two  words  differ  only  in  that  the  one  is  masculine, 
the  other  feminine  ;  precisely  as  the  words  lion  and  lioness. 


64 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


sions.  For  he  that  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  not  only 
a  member  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his  bones, 
but  also,  He  that  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  one  spirit 
with  him.  This  latter  phrase  is  never  used  to  de¬ 
scribe  the  marriage  unity.  Also  Jesus  declares 
that  in  the  spiritual  world,  they  neither  marry  nor 
are  given  in  marriage.  This  unity  is  not  therefore 
in  its  own  nature  spiritual— a  union  of  the  spirits  of 
man  and  woman.  But  it  is  a  oneness  of  the  earthly 
and  mortal  nature  and  life ;  of  the  desires  and 
affections,  of  the  sympathies  and  loves  of  this  nature  ; 
and  of  the  wisdom  and  prudence  which  stands  at  its 
head.  In  virtue  of  marriage,  the  man  and  his  wife 
are  to  love  each  other  as  their  own  flesh,  to  think 
the  same  things,  to  follow  the  same  counsels  in  re¬ 
spect  to  all  that  pertains  to  the  mortal  life.  By 
marriage  they  twain  are  not  one  spirit  but  one 
flesh. 

The  second  truth  here  symbolized,  and  drawn 
from  the  symbol  by  St.  Paul,  is  that  the  woman  is  to 
be  in  subjection  to  her  husband.  From  the  argu¬ 
ments  by  which  he  proves  the  subjection  of  the 
woman  it  is  evident  that,  although  it  is  first  men¬ 
tioned  not  until  she  had  sinned,  for  reasons  which 
we  shall  hereafter  see,  it  was  in  force,  in  her  estate 
of  innocence,  in  virtue  of  her  creation.  For  he 
proves  it  from  four  considerations ;  because  she  was 
not  created  first,  but  the  man ;  because  he  was  not 
taken  out  of  her,  but  she  out  of  him  ;  because  he 
was  not  made  for  her,  but  she  for  him;  and  be¬ 
cause  he  was  not  deceived  into  transgression,  but 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


<35 


she  was.  Three  of  these  reasons  were  in  full  force 
before  she  sinned ;  therefore  that  which  they  are 
adduced  to  prove,  namely,  her  subjection,  was  in 
full  force  before  she  sinned.  The  conclusion  is  in¬ 
evitable.  The  grounds  and  reasons  of  her  subjec¬ 
tion  are  drawn  from  the  manner  of  her  creation, 
and  lie  in  the  very  nature  of  woman  as  distinguished 
from  man. 

But  it  was  the  earthly  nature  alone  which  was 
taken  out  ot  man.  It  is  this  alone  in  woman  which 
is  united  by  marriage  to  him  for  the  term  of  its 
life.  Therefore  it  is  this  alone  which  is  put  under 
subjection  to  him.  Her  spiritual  nature  is  free  of 
her  human  husband.  With  respect  to  it,  she  is  his 
equal,  and  perhaps,  for  some  reasons  hereafter  to  be 
considered,  greatly  his  superior.  He  has  no  right 
of  control  over  anything  in  her  but  that  which  be¬ 
longs  to  her  inferior  nature,  and  to  the  mortal  life. 
To  suppose  the  spiritual  nature  in  woman  to  be  re¬ 
sponsible  to  man,  and  under  his  control,  is  to  deny 
its  responsibility  to  God  alone ;  and  involves  the 
consequence  that,  if  he  command  her  to  do  wrong, 
she  is  bound  of  right  to  obey.  But  this  is  absurd. 
When  he  commands  her  to  do  wrong,  she  is  to  dis¬ 
obey.  God  is  the  only  Husband  and  Lord  of  the 
spiritual  nature,  both  of  man  and  woman. 

From  this  it  is  evident,  that  the  subjection  of  the 
woman  to  the  man  is  not  a  mere  official  relation,  as 
some  have  supposed.  This  nature  in  her,  which 
alone  is  in  subjection  to  him,  is  of  itself  inferior  to, 
and  dependent  upon  him.  To  signify  this  very 


66 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


thing  it  was  made  of  a  part  of  him,  for  him,  taken 
out  of  him.  She  is  less  of  stature  than  he.  Her 
physical  strength  is  inferior  to  his.  Her  constitution 
is  more  frail  and  delicate  than  his.  Her  appetites 
are  weaker  than  his.  No  less  inferior  to  him  is  she 
in  logical  powers,  in  that  wisdom  and  prudence 
which  stands  at  the  head  of  the  earthly  and  mortal 
nature.  She  is  less  at  home  in  the  walks  of  physi¬ 
cal  science,  and  in  business,  than  is  he.  In  all  that 
pertains  exclusively  to  the  mortal  life,  and  which 
perishes  with  it,  she  is  inferior  to  man,  weaker  than 
he,  dependent  upon  him,  and  under  his  protection, 
guidance  and  control.  In  respect  to  this  nature, 
she  is,  so  to  speak,  but  an  individuated  part  of  man, 
his  reflected  glory,  and,  within  its  sphere,  whatever 
the  wisdom  of  an  infidel  age  may  determine  to  the 
contrary,  it  is  her  highest  glory  to  obey  her 
husband. 

From  this  symbol  other  truths  are  drawn  by  the 
Lord  and  his  apostles ;  but  for  the  purposes  of  this 
chapter  it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  one  or  two 
more.  Because  this  union  is  real  and  true  it  can  be 
dissolved  by  two  causes  only,  infidelity  to  the  union 
itself,  and  by  the  death  of  either  of  the  parties.  And 
because  it  pertains  to  the  mortal  nature  only  it  is 
really  and  truly  dissolved  by  death.  Have  ye  not 
heard  that  he  which  made  them  from  the  beginning 
made  them  male  and  female,  and  said ,  They  twain 
shall  be  one  flesh  1  What  therefore  God  hath  joined  let 
no  man  put  asunder.  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his 
wife ,  saving  for  the  cause  of  fornication,  causeth  her 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


67 


to  commit  adultery.  No  less  clear  is  he  in  respect  to 
the  actual  dissolution  of  the  marriage  union  by  death. 
He  said  to  the  Sadducees,  when  they  spoke  of  mar¬ 
riage  after  the  resurrection,  Ye  do  err ,  not  knowing 
the  Scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God.  For  in  the 
resurrection  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in 
marriage ;  hut  are  as  the  angels  of  God.  So  that, 
according  to  the  case  presented  to  him,  if  a  woman 
have  had  seven  husbands,  it  makes  no  difference  with 
her  in  the  spiritual  world.  Also  St.  Paul  declares 
that  upon  the  death  of  her  husband  the  woman  is  free 
to  marry  again.  This  could  not  be  unless  the  mar¬ 
riage  union  were  really  and  truly  dissolved  by  death. 

But  the  hope  of  reunion  with  departed  friends  is 
not  therefore,  as  some  have  supposed,  a  vain  dream. 
For  ye  sorrow  not  even  as  others  who  have  no  hope. 
All  the  spirits  of  the  redeemed  are  united  in  a  real 
oneness,  from  which  flows  eternally  the  most  blissful 
love  and  intercommunion.  This  spiritual  union  may 
begin  on  earth  between  married  people,  and  become 
more  and  more  perfect  until  death.  But  it  does  not 
exist  in  virtue  of  any  marriage  here,  nor  of  any  hu¬ 
man  relation,  but  in  virtue  of  something  higher  than 
marriage,  in  virtue  of  the  union  of  their  souls  with 
God,  consummated  and  perfected  by  the  indwelling 
in  each  of  the  one  and  same  Spirit  of  Christ. 

Now  the  institution  of  marriage  was  erected  in  the 
bosom  of  the  daily  life  of  man  to  be  an  abiding  sym¬ 
bol  of  the  relation  which  existed  between  his  soul 
and  God.  As  such  it  is  always  spoken  of  and  re¬ 
ferred  to  in  the  Scriptures.  Thy  Maker  is  thy  1ms - 


68 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


band.*  St.  Paul  calls  it  a  mystery ,*  which  it  truly 
is,  in  the  proper  sense  of  that  word,  and  uses  it 
as  the  symbol  of  the  spiritual  union  of  the  soul 
with  Christ.  Throughout  the  prophets  God  is 
everywhere  represented  as  the  husband  of  his  peo¬ 
ple.  In  the  New  Testament  the  Church  is  the  bride 
of  Christ.  The  earthly  nature  of  the  woman,  in  its 
inferiority,  dependence  upon,  and  subjection  to,  the 
man,  was  intended  to  keep  ever  before  the  eyes  of 
both  their  own  inferiority,  dependence  upon,  and  sub¬ 
jection  to  God.  As  the  man  is  the  head  of  this  na¬ 
ture  in  woman,  so  is  Christ  the  head  of  the  Church. 
As  the  woman,  in  respect  to  her  inferior  nature,  is 
the  reflected  glory  of  the  man,  so  is  the  Church  the 
reflected  glory  of  Christ.  The  corresponding  relation 
of  man  to  the  woman  was  intended  to  reflect  steadily 
into  the  human  soul,  the  knowledge  of  the  relation 
which  God  bears  to  it.  For  this  purpose  this  insti¬ 
tution  was  set  up  by  God  himself ;  and  it  is  indispen¬ 
sable  in  society  to  the  spiritual  well-being  of  man,  as 
are  all  the  institutions  of  God.  To  subserve  this  pur¬ 
pose  is  the  highest  glory  of  marriage.  Woe  to  them, 
therefore,  who  seek  to  destroy  the  whole  force  of  this 
symbol  by  marriages  in  which  the  subjection  of  the 
woman  is  denied,  or  not  recognised.  They  do  all 

*  The  word  nvsrfipiov,  mystery,  in  its  primary  acceptation  desig¬ 
nates  a  symbolical  representation  of  truth.  In  the  Eleusinian  mys¬ 
teries  among  the  Athenians,  the  doctrines  of  a  future  state,  the  im¬ 
mortality  of  the  soul,  and  many  others,  were  clothed  with  a  sym¬ 
bolical  form,  and  exhibited  to  the  people,  but  explained  only  to  the 
initiated. 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


69 


they  can  to  destroy  out  of  the  human  soul,  the  con¬ 
viction  of  its  inferiority,  dependence  upon,  and  sub¬ 
jection  to  God,  by  violating  that  sacred  symbol  of  it 
which  God  has  established.  And  woe  to  them # 
who  represent  the  estate  of  marriage  as  one  of  infe¬ 
rior  holiness  to  that  of  celibacy.  They  blaspheme 
God’s  own  appointed  means  of  grace. 

When  the  symbolical  and  significant  character  of 
this  institution  is  lost  sight  of  it  comes  to  be  regarded 
as  something  in  its  own  nature  spiritual  and  perma- 
ment,  and  is  idolized.  Into  this  very  mistake  the 
Jews  fell  in  respect  to  the  nature  of  their  ceremonial 
law  ;  and  to  point  out  their  error,  St.  Paul  introduces 
marriage  as  an  acknowledged  temporal  relation. 
But  they  had  become  so  possessed  with  the  idea  that 
their  law  was  something  substantial  and  everlasting, 
instead  of  symbolical  and  temporary,  that  when  He 
came  who  was  its  substance  and  fulfilment,  they 
rejected  him.  They  had  become  so  wedded  to  the 
forms  of  their  holy  law,  in  receiving  which  they  had 

V  - ,  "  •  ^  .  '  '  ‘  V '  *  r  •-*  J  •  *  >  •  • 

*  Discerning  the  symbolical  character  of  marriage,  the  Romish 
church  has  erected  it  into  a  sacrament.  With  no  less  propriety, 
and  for  the  same  reason,  she  should  have  made  the  birth  of  an  in¬ 
fant,  the  relation  between  the  child  and  the  parent,  and  death 
itself  sacraments.  These  also  are  holy  symbols  of  spiritual  truth, 
ordained  to  be  such  by  God.  Nay  for  the  same  reason  she  should 
have  made  the  crushing  of  the  head  of  the  serpent  a  sacrament. 
For  this  is  a  divinely  ordained  symbol  of  Christ’s  most  blessed  tri¬ 
umph  over  “that  old  serpent,  that  is,  the  devil.”  But  how  she, 
holding  marriage  as  a  sacrament,  can  teach  that  they  who  partake 
of  this  means  of  grace,  must  therefore  be  less  holy  than  they  who 
neglect  it,  is  wonderful.  Yet  such  is  the  folly  of  human  wisdom 
when  it  usurps  the  throne  of  the  Wisdom  of  God. 


70 


/ 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


been  so  greatly  honored  and  blessed,  that  they  could 
not  look  to  the  end  of  it,  to  that  which  it  signified 
and  was  intended  to  usher  in.  They  could  not  bear 
that  it  should  be  done  away  by  the  substance  of  it, 
taking  its  place. 

So  it  is  with  thousands  of  married  people  who 
tenderly  love  each  other.  God  has  given  them 
something  so  excellent,  so  full  of  strength  and  conso¬ 
lation  in  marriage  ;  they  are  so  carried  away  with 
its  human  love,  and  its  temporal  joys,  that  they  can¬ 
not  discern  the  divine  truth  which  it  symbolizes. 
They  cannot  bear  that  it  should  be  done  away, 
should  serve  out  its  time,  and  give  place  to  the  sub¬ 
stance  of  which  it  is  the  shadow.  They  are  grieved 
and  pained  at  the  thought  that  it  should  end  at  death. 
The  widowed  wife  looks  forward  to  reunion  with  her 
departed  husband  after  death,  as  her  greatest  consola¬ 
tion,  instead  of  rejoicing  most  of  all  in  the  hope  of  the 
perfection  of  her  union  with  Christ  in  the  spiritual  world. 
The  dying  husband  cannot  bear  the  thought  of  his  wife’s 
second  marriage.  He  wishes  her  to  rejoin  him  in 
the  spiritual  world,  as  his  own  dearest  friend,  as  his 
own  appropriated  spiritual  wife.  The  thought  that 
she  should  love  others  there  as  well  as  she  loves  him,  is 
painful.  He  cannot  receive  the  truth  that  in  the 
resurrection  they  neither  marry ,  nor  are  given  in 
marriage.  He  knows  not  that  when  the  substance 
is  come,  by  it  the  shadow  is  done  away.  He  cannot 
rejoice  that  the  perfection  of  his  union  with  Christ 
shall  fulfil  and  absorb  the  institution  of  marriage,  as 
Christ  fulfils  and  abolishes  the  law  of  Moses.  He 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


71 


so  clings  to  this  form,  shadow,  symbol,  that  when  He 
who  is  its  substance  is  offered  him,  because  Christ 
must  be  loved  with  a  devotion  and  fervor  above  this, 
and  every  other  thing,  he  rejects  him  in  spirit,  as  the’ 
Jews  rejected  him  in  the  flesh.  To  be  married  to 
Christ  is  something  so  hollow  and  unsubstantial  to 

is  idolatrous  heart  that  it  can  give  him  no  pleasure 
unless  he  may  have  his  wife  again;  as  the  deliver¬ 
ance  from  sin  which  Christ  offered  the  Jews  was 
something  so  shadowy  and  unsatisfactory  that  they 
could  not  receive  it  in  the  place  of  that  deliverance 
fiom  subjection  to  the  Romans  which  they  desired  and 
expected.  The  real  feeling  of  thousands  when  they 
die,  if  it  were  put  into  words,  is  that  they  will  bear, 
because  they  must,  as  well  as  they  can,  their  separa¬ 
tion  until  they  shall  be  reunited  in  heaven,  instead  of 
i  ejoicing  that  the  shadow  is  passing  away,  and  the 
substance  coming  into  its  place.  Thus  also  the  Jews 
to  this  day,  bear  their  separation  from  their  dear  law 
and  sacrifices  in  the  fond  and  vain  hope  that  they 

shall  one  day  be  reunited  to  be  no  more  parted  for 
ever. 

This  is  a  most  prevalent  and  deadly  idolatry, 
whose  root  is  the  same  feeling  which  led  Adam  to 
hearken  to  the  voice  of  his  wife  rather  than  to 
the  Voice  of  God.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  spirit¬ 
ual  wives  and  husbands.  This  is  a  phantom  of  earthly 
beauty,  mistaking  which  for  an  angel  of  light,  many 
have  been  beguiled  from  the  simplicity,*  and  often, 

*  Swedenborg  and  his  followers  make  the  marriage  relation  to  be 


72 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


from  the  purity  of  the  Gospel.  The  desire  to 
reproduce  the  marriage  relation  in  the  spiritual 
world,  rather  than  to  have  it  fulfilled  and  abolished 
by  the  perfection  of  the  union  of  the  soul  with  Chi  ist, 
is  perhaps  the  most  subtle  guise  of  light  in  which  the 
enemy  can  array  himself  for  the  destruction  of  the 
unwary.  For  the  genuine  feelings  of  human  lo\e 
make  their  appearance  in  the  heart  after  a  mannei  so 
unselfish  and  pure,  so  free  from  appetite,  their  cei- 
tain  fruit,  but  which  they  have  not  yet  borne,  with 
such  soul-subduing  sweetness  and  pleasure,  with  such 
an  assurance  that  they  can  never  pass  away,  that  it 
seems  as  if  they  must  be  of  a  spiritual  and  immoital 
nature.  It  seems  to  the  idolator,  as  if  heaven  itself 
could  give  nothing  better  than  this,  and  could  be 
nothing  without  this.  Yet  all  this,  in  its  greatest 
strength  and  purity  and  happiness,  is  but  a  type,  a 
symbol,  a  shadow.  It  is  no  more  in  comparison  with 
its  substance,  that  spiritual  unity  with  Christ  which  it 
symbolizes,  and  the  love  and  eternal  joy  which  flow 
out  of  that,  than  the  body  is  to  the  spirit ;  than  the 

a  principal  source  of  the  joys  of  heaven.  Therefore  in  order  to  be 
consistent  the  “  New  Church”  does  not  allow  second  marriages.  It 
is  needless  to  say,  that  any  view  which  does  not  allow  of  second 
marriages  is,  ipso  facto,  a  denial  of  the  inspiration  of  Paul  s  epistles. 
But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  with  all  their  boast  of  greater  spirit¬ 
uality  than  that  of  the  “  Old  Church,”  they  have  fallen  into  an 
error,  which,  as  exhibited  above,  is  precisely  the  same  in  substance 
with  that  of  the  Jews,  who  would  reproduce  in  their  Messianic 
kingdom,  that  temporal  dominion,  which  was  but  a  type  and  sym¬ 
bol  of  that  which  was  to  fulfil  and  abolish  it,  the  spiritual  reign  of 
Christ  in  every  soul. 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


73 


bread  and  the  wine  are  to  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul 
of  man. 

Out  of  this  species  of  formulism  and  idolatry  often 
arises  a  feeling  which  is  revolted  at,  and  condemns 
second  marriages.  Not  unfrequently  this  is  ascribed 
to  greater  purity  of  heart,  and  spirituality  of  view. 
It  is  true  indeed  that  second  marriages  may  be,  and 
perhaps  commonly  are,  sought  from  motives  and 
feelings  more  corrupt  even  than  those  which  con¬ 
demn  them.  Yet  it  is  none  the  less  true  that,  because 
they  are  distinctly  and  pointedly  sanctioned  by  the 
Word  of  God,  they  who  condemn  such  relations  are 
of  necessity  found  in  an  attitude  of  rebellion  against 
his  Wisdom.  Every  feeling  in  man’s  heart  which  is 
1  evoked  at  anything  sanctioned  by  God  is  corrupt  to 
the  veiy  core.  It  is  to  be  repented  of,  and  cast  out 
as  evd.  This  error  is  precisely  the  same  feeling  and 
view,  in  the  substance  of  it,  which  led  the  Jew  to 
pride  himself  upon  his  superior  fidelity  to  the  law  of 
Moses  after  it  had  been  fulfilled  and  abolished.  It  is 
the  idolatrous  worship  of  the  form  and  shadow ;  and 
it  leads  to  the  rejection  of  the  substance  and  spirit. 

Against  this  form  of  idolatry,  in  which  the  rela¬ 
tions  of  the  earthly  nature  in  man  are  regarded  as 
something  spiritual  and  permanent,  the  Lord  warns 
us  in  the  most  awful  words — words  which  seem  to 
many  unnecessarily  strong  and  harsh.  He  that  lov- 
eth  father  or  mother  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of 
me ;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter  more  than 
me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.  If  a  man  come  to  me,  and  hate 

not  father  and  mother  and  wife  and  children  and 

4 


74 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


brethren  and  sisters ,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple. 
Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth  :  I 
tell  you ,  nay ,  but  a  sword.  These  are  all  relations 
of  the  earthly  nature  and  the  mortal  life,  appointed 
to  be  typical  and  therefore  temporary ;  having  their 
substance  and  fulfilment  in  the  eternal  and  spiritual 
union  of  the  believer  with  Christ,  as  the  sacrifice  of 
the  paschal  lamb  had  its  substance  and  fulfilment  in 
the  sacrifice  of  Calvary.  The  sword  of  Christ 
severs  these  relations  by  bringing  in  the  substance 
which  they  shadow  forth  and  prefigure,  though  they 
be  so  dear  to  their  idolatrous  worshipper  that  he 
cries  out  with  Micah  to  the  Danites,  Ye  have  taken 
away  my  gods,  and  what  have  I  more  ?  And  yet 
they  who  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  attain  unto 
the  resurrection  of  life,  shall  be  as  well  satisfied  in 
the  enjoyment  of  their  perfect  and  eternal  marriage 
union  with  Christ,  to  dispense  with  all  these  relations 
by  which  it  is  now  symbolized,  as  the  Christian  is  to 
dispense  with  the  sacrifices  of  the  ritual  law. 

Perhaps  to  some  these  views  may  seem  to  be  cold 
and  austere.  But  nothing  can  be  cold  or  austere 
which  is  sanctioned  by  the  Word  of  God.  They  are 
not  found  to  be  such  in  life  and  experience.  He  only 
can  know  that  marriage  is  honorable  in  all,  and  the 
bed  undejiled,  who  sees  in  it  what  Paul  saw,  a  most 
expressive  symbol  of  the  mutual  relation  between 
the  soul  of  man  and  God.  The  wife  who  sees  in  the 
relation  of  her  earthly  nature  to  her  husband  a  sym¬ 
bol  of  the  inferiority,  dependence,  and  subjection  of 


OF  MARRIAGE. 


75 


her  spiritual  nature  to  Christ — she  only  truly  loves 
and  seeks  to  please  her  husband. 

The  man  who  knows  that  his  love  and  tenderness 
towards,  and  treatment  of,  his  wife,  is  to  keep  ever 
present  to  his  mind  the  love  of  Christ  for  him  he 
only  can  act  towards  her  as  Christ  has  acted  towards 
im  Nothing  can  hallow,  and  consecrate,  and 
purify,  and  exalt  to  its  true  position  the  institution 
ol  marriage  but  the  ever  present  thought  of  that 

holy  mystery  which  it  symbolizes,  prefigures,  and 
ushers  in. 


76 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 

“Jehovah  God  planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden,  and  there  he 
put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed.  And  out  of  the  ground  made 
Jehovah  God  to  grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and 
good  for  food ;  the  tree  of  life  also  in  the  midst  of  the  garden, 
and  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 

“  And  Jehovah  God  commanded  the  man  saying,  Of  every  tree 
of  the  garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat ;  but  of  the  tree  of  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it;  for  in  the  day 
that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die.” 

In  order  the  better  to  understand  this  account  of  the 
garden  of  Eden,  that  is  to  say,  the  garden  of  Delight, 
several  things  must  be  carefully  attended  to.  First 
is  the  authoritative  law  of  good  and  evil  here  given 
to  man ;  secondly,  after  what  manner  this  law  was 
symbolized  under  the  two  trees  in  the  midst  of  the 
garden  ;  and  thirdly,  with  what  feelings  it  was  recog¬ 
nised  by  man,  which  made  the  abode  of  his  inno¬ 
cence  a  garden  of  delight  to  him. 

What  this  law  of  good  and  evil  is,  which  was  origi¬ 
nally  written  upon  the  tablet  of  the  heart  of  man,  we 
learn  with  perfect  certainty  from  our  Lord  and  Sa¬ 
viour  Jesus  Christ,  who  came  to  restore  it  after  it  had 
been  defaced  by  sin.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with 


77 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 

all  thy  mind  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  thy  neigh¬ 
bor  as  thyself.  This  is  the  law  which  divides  be¬ 
tween  what  is  good  and  what  evil  for  man.  And 
there  is  no  other  possible.  For  it  is  not  an  arbitrary 
enactment.  It  has  its  eternal  and  immutable  founda¬ 
tion  in  the  very  nature  of  God  himself.  No  law  can 
come  from  him  which  is  not,  in  the  substance  of  it,  a 
transcription  of  his  nature.  But  his  nature  is  the 
standard  of  good  and  evil.  That  which  agrees  with 
it  is  good,  and  therefore  good  ;  that  which  is  opposed 
to  it  is  evil,  and  therefore  evil.  The  transgression  of 
this  law  therefore  has  a  significancy  transcendency 
above  all  that  is  evil  for  man.  It  is  rebellion  against 
God.  Obedience  to  it  is  a  good  equally  above  all 
that  is  good  for  man.  It  glorifies  God.  Thus  much 
it  seemed  necessary  distinctly  to  declare  to  avoid  the 
imputation  of  a  mere  utilitarian  view,  which  the  fol¬ 
lowing  lemaiks  might  otherwise  seem  to  imply,  but 
which  is  abhorrent  to  every  spiritual  mind. 

Foi  the  law  of  God  not  only  distinguishes  between 
what  is  good  and  evil  with  respect  to  his  nature,  but 
also  with  respect  to  man.  It  is,  and  always  was 
necessary,  yea,  indispensable  to  man,  that  by  it  he 
might  know  to  choose  the  good  and  refuse  the  evil 
with  unerring  certainty. 

In  01  dei  the  more  clearly  to  perceive  this  we  must 
consider  that  the  things  which  are  good  for  man  have 
their  opposites  which  are,  and  must  be,  evil  for  him. 

If  truth,  temperance,  the  love  of  God  and  his 
neighboi,  be  good  for  him,  their  opposites,  delusion 
and  falsehood,  intemperance,  to  hate  God  and  his 


78 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


neighbor,  must  be  evil  for  him.  It  could  not  be 
otherwise. 

Also,  we  must  consider  that,  as  we  learn  from  ob¬ 
servation  and  experience,  the  nature  of  man  is  such 
that  all  his  actions  have  a  reflex  influence  upon  him¬ 
self,  good  for  good,  evil  for  evil.  Every  act  whether 
of  desire,  thought  or  volition,  not  only  goes  forth 
upon  other  objects,  but  also  returns  upon  himself 
with  its  effects  and  consequences,  and  leaves  him 
somewhat  different  from  that  he  was  before.  When 
he  indulges  a  desire  for  stimulating  drinks,  it  is 
strengthened,  his  power  of  resistance  is  weakened, 
and  future  indulgence  facilitated.  By  relieving  the 
distresses  of  the  poor  his  disposition  towards  works 
of  that  sort  is  increased,  and  he  is  rendered  more  be¬ 
nevolent.  By  the  exercise  of  pure  and  holy  affec¬ 
tions  he  becomes  more  pure  and  holy ;  by  impure 
thoughts  and  desires  and  acts,  he  is  rendered  more 
impure.  Of  these  things  many  have  fatal  experience. 
For  this  fruit  of  actions  is  something  so  subtle  and 
far-reaching  that  it  often  escapes  our  notice  alto¬ 
gether,  so  that  we  refuse  to  be  warned.  Yet  it  is  as 
certain  and  inevitable  as  the  decrees  of  God.  The 
effects  of  a  man’s  actions  upon  himself  are  like  the 
falling  of  a  single  drop  of  water  upon  the  rock.  It 
seems  to  leave  the  stone  just  as  it  was  before.  But 
after  it  has  fallen  for  years  the  effect  of  the  first  drop 
is  so  much  increased  as  to  make  itself  known :  so 
that  in  time  the  whole  rock  is  worn  away.  Thus  a 
single  evil  act  or  thought  or  desire  may  seem  to  leave 
the  man  unchanged,  but  it  does  not.  See  the  drunkard 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE.  79 

after  a  few  years  of  indulgence— how  changed !  how 
transformed !  how  fallen  from  all  that  he  once  was  ! 

Still  further  it  must  be  observed  that  the  effects  of 
man  s  actions  upon  himself,  good  for  good,  evil  for 
evil,  have  a  ratio  of  increase  peculiar  to  themselves. 
For  after  every  act  he  enters  into  subsequent 
agency,  in  some  sort,  a  new  creature.  That  which 
he  being  changed  now  does,  also  re-enters  into  him 
anew,  and  leaves  him  still  different  from  that  he 
was  before.  Hence  he  is  changed  from  glory  to 
glory,  or  from  death  unto  death .  To  this  process 
which  is  perfectly  indisputable,  evidently  no  natural 
limits  can  be  assigned.  Left  to  itself,  in  the  very 
natuie  of  the  case,  it  runs  on  while  the  man  con¬ 
tinues  to  exist. 

Now  because  these  effects  of  man’s  actions  upon 
himself  run  on  without  any  assignable  limit,  he  must 
continually  find  consequences  and  results  evolved 
out  of  his  actions  which  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  foresee.  And  in  fact,  that  which  seems  to  us  evil 
or  painful  to  do  or  to  suffer  often  produces  in  and 
for  us  the  most  blessed  results.  That  which  seems 
to  our  wisdom  good  and  profitable  is  often  fraught 
with  the  most  disastrous  consequences.  The  good 
01  evil  fiuits  of  actions  do  not  appear  to  a  finite 
intelligence  and  prudence  except  through  experience, 
and  therefore  are  not  to  be  known  until  they  are 
past,  and  cannot  be  recalled. 

Fiom  this  it  is  plain  that  man,  no  less  than  every 
other  creature,  must  stand  between  two  worlds  of 
good  and  evil,  to  him  infinite,  to  choose  aright  be- 


I 


80  OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 

tween  which  his  own  insight  into  probabilities,  con¬ 
sequences  and  results  is  wholly  inadequate.  In  other 
words,  man  cannot  know  good  and  evil.  To  discern 
aright  between  these  things  by  his  own  wisdom  and 
prudence  he  must  have  an  infinite  knowledge ;  that 
is  to  say,  a  comprehension  of  all  the  consequences 
and  effects  of  his  actions,  which  are  infinite.  But 
this  knowledge  is  competent  to  God  alone.  There¬ 
fore  without  a  law  and  guide  of  life  from  God  only 
wise ,  entirely  independent  of  consequences,  he  must 
be  liable  continually  to  choose  amiss,  and  to  pierce 
himself  through  with  many  sorrows.  He  must  have 
something  to  indicate  what  is  good  for  him  and 
what  is  evil,  before  he  has  tried  it,  because  by  the 
experience  of  evil  he  must  perish. 

From  this  also  it  is  evident  that  this  law  and  guide 
of  life  must  be  an  authoritative  one  ;  that  is  to  say, 
it  cannot  give  its  reasons  for  its  commands  and  pro¬ 
hibitions.  For  this  only  is  authority  in  a  true  and 
proper  sense.  These  reasons,  so  far  as  they  per¬ 
tain  to  the  well-being  of  man,  not  to  speak  of  the 
essential  and  eternal  difference  between  good  and 
evil,  having  its  foundation  in  the  incomprehensible 
nature  of  God,  are  the  infinite  and  ever  evolving 
consequences  of  man’s  actions  upon  himself.  These 
cannot  be  made  known  even  by  a  revelation  to  a 
finite  intelligence.  This  law  of  God  therefore  can¬ 
not  give  any  other  reason  or  sanction  for  its  com¬ 
mands  and  prohibitions  than  this,  If  thou  shalt  obey , 
it  shall  be  well  with  thee ;  thou  shalt  live :  If  thou 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE.  81 

shalt  disobey ,  it  shall  not  be  well  with  thee ;  thou 
shalt  surely  die. 

Such  a  guide  of  life,  such  a  criterion  between 
good  and  evil  for  man,  is  the  law  of  God,  as  re¬ 
vealed  through  Christ.  This  law  does  not  make 
anything  good  for  man  by  commanding  it.  It  com¬ 
mands  only  what  is  good  in  itself,  or  agreeable  with 
the  nature  of  God,  and  therefore  good  for  man.  It 
does  not  make  a  thing  evil  by  forbidding  it.  It  for¬ 
bids  only  what  is  evil  in  itself,  or  opposed  to  the 
nature  of  God,  therefore  evil  for  man.  The  law  of 
God  is  nothing  arbitrary.  That  which  it  commands 
is  good  for  man,  that  which  it  forbids  is  evil  for  him, 
though  there  were  no  law.  It  is  given  to  him  by 
his  Heavenly  Father  to  be  to  him  an  infallible 
criterion  of  choice  between  good  and  evil,  that  he 
may  know  to  choose  the  good  and  refuse  the  evil, 
without  calculating  the  consequences  of  his  actions, 
which  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  do.  It  is  the  Wis¬ 
dom  of  God  for  man.  Therefore  it  comes  to  him 
in  the  foim  of  absolute  authority,  with  the  promise 
of  eternal  life  as  the  consequence  of  obedience,  and 
with  the  penalty  of  eternal  death  as  the  consequence 
of  disobedience,  instead  of  an  attempt  at  explanation 
of  the  reasons  upon  which  its  commands  and  pro¬ 
hibitions  are  based.  The  law  is  holy  and  the  com - 
mandment  is  holy  and  just  and  good. 

Unfolding  and  applying  this  law  for  his  disciples, 
our  Lord  reveals  this  blessing  which  is  in  it.  Bless¬ 
ed  are  the  meek.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart. 

Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit.  Blessed  are  the  veace- 

4* 


82 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


I 


makers.  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness.  The  Almighty  and  Eter¬ 
nal  and  Self-sufficient  God  does  not  command  his 
creatures  from  the  love  of  authority,  merely  for  the 
gratification  of  seeing  them  obey,  or  of  punishing 
them  for  disobedience.  He  cannot  be  benefited  at 
all  by  their  obedience,  neither  can  he  suffer  from 
their  disobedience.  His  essential  glory  and  eternal 
blessedness  cannot  be  increased  nor  diminished  by 
anything  that  they  can  do.  In  giving  his  law  to 
man  he  is  moved  by  infinite  love,  which  is  his  es¬ 
sence.  The  good  for  man,  without  which  every¬ 
thing  else,  when  it  has  worked  itself  out,  must  pro¬ 
duce  the  fruit  of  emptiness,  bitterness  and  death,  is 
to  be  and  to  do  what  the  wisdom  of  God  has  mark¬ 
ed  as  good  for  him.  To  he  spiritually  minded  is  life. 
The  evil  for  man,  without  which  all  things  which 
are  not  joyous  for  the  present  hut  grievous ,  shall  on.e 
day  be  found  to  have  worked  out  a  far  more  exceed¬ 
ing  and  eternal  weight  of  glory ,  is  to  be  and  to  do 
what  the  wisdom  of  God  has  marked  as  evil  for  him. 
To  he  carnally  minded  is  death.  Therefore,  This 
shall  he  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house 
of  Israel  and  the  house  of  Judah.  I  will  put  my  law 
in  their  inward  parts  and  write  it  in  their  hearts. 
Therefore  the  mission  of  Jesus  is  to  save  his  people 
from  their  sins.  For  man  saved  from  his  sins,  that 
is  to  say,  brought  into  obedience  to  this  law,  into 
holiness,  is  saved  from  every  evil.  Left  in  his  sins 
he  is  saved  from  no  evil.  For  sin  is  the  evil,  and 
the  only  evil,  from  which  he  suffers. 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


83 


This  is  the  nature  of  that  law  of  distinction  between 
good  and  evil  which  was  originally  written  in  the 
heart,  the  most  spiritual  being  of  man — the  law  of 
love  transcribed  from  the  very  essence  of  God  which 
is  love.  Nor  is  this  a  conjecture.  It  is  proved  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  this  law,  and  not  another,  which 
Christ  came  to  re-write  upon  man’s  heart,  and  thus 
to  save  him  from  the  evil  which  he  suffered  in  the 
fall.  Therefore  it  is  this  law  which  has  been  defaced 
from  his  heart  by  sin.  Of  this  law  the  conscience  in 
man  was  the  organ,  so  to  speak,  the  most  faithful  re¬ 
flection.  While  therefore  he  should  continue  to 
reflect  God’s  distinctions  between  good  and  evil 
thus  revealed  in  the  form  of  authority  ;  while  the 
will  should  continue  to  receive  the  suggestions  of  the 
earthly  nature  with  sole  reference  to  the  wisdom  of 
God,  and  the  whole  practical  life  should  continue  to 
follow  this  infallible  guide,  he  could  not  err.  He 
could  not  mistake  evil  for  good,  nor  choose  what 
would  degrade  and  defile  his  soul,  and  destroy  his 
own  well-being.  But  the  moment  he  should  erect 
his  own  wisdom  into  a  guide  and  law  of  distinction 
between  good  and  evil,  and  choose  what  might  seem 
good  in  its  eyes  independently  of,  and  in  opposition 
to,  the  Wisdom  of  God,  not  only  must  he  rebel  against 
God,  that  is  to  say,  commit  sin,  but  he  must  destroy 
his  own  well-being  and  plunge  himself  into  the  world 
of  evil. 

To  guard  his  innocence,  to  preserve  his  spiritual 
life  he  was  placed  by  his  heavenly  father  in  the  gar¬ 
den  of  Paradise. 


84 


di’  Ma&  In  fHii  gAKden  or  EaradisE. 


F or  the  child-man,  created  in  the  image  of  God, 
reflecting  his  likeness,  and  without  experience,  a 
pl&ce  ot  abode  was  necessary,  Where  his  earthly 
nature  might  find  an  appropriate  sphere*  What 
other  could  be  suitable  to  his  innocence  but  that 
which  is  described  iti  the  Words  which  stand  at  the 
head  oi  this  chapter  ?  It  Was  necessary  that  his  out¬ 
ward  environment  should  correspond  with  the  purity 
of  his  inWard  nature  and  life.  Had  it  been  other¬ 
wise,  since,  by  means  of  his  earthly  nature,  he  was 
connected  With  the  physical  world,  he  Would  have 
been  constantly  liable  to  receive  impressions  from 
Without  opposed  to  that  which  Was  within.  Conflict 
Would  have  arisen  from  this  cause ;  while  from  the 
union  of  twfo  natures  in  one  person,  physical  evil 
might  ha\e  passed  over  and  affected  his  spiritual 
Well-being*  Also,  We  have  seen  that  there  is  a  de¬ 
mand  in  the  very  constitution  of  man  for  an  outward 
and  visible  reflection  or  symbol  of  the  truth  by  which 
he  lives ;  that  this  is  not  only  necessary  to  the  per¬ 
fection  and  happiness  of  his  life,  but  also  to  nourish 
and  maintain  it.  But  the  truth  by  which  alone  it 
was  possible  for  man  to  live  was,  that  he  could  not 
know  good  and  evil  by  his  own  wisdom  and  fore¬ 
sight  of  the  fruit  of  actions ;  that  upon  this  point  he 
must  be  implicitly  submissive  to  the  Wisdom  of  God 
revealed  in  his  conscience  in  the  form  of  authority, 
marking  the  good  and  stigmatizing  the  evil.  Of  this 
truth  therefore,  by  eminence,  he  needed  an  outward 
leflection  or  symbol,  for  the  same  reason  that  we 
need  the  sacraments* 


Of1  MAN  IN  T'HJfc]  GARDEN  or  PARADISE,  85 

God  did  not  deny  to  man  that  which  he  needed  to 
preserve  him  from  error  and  to  confirm  him  in  inno¬ 
cence.  He  placed  him  in  the  midst  of  a  garden 
which  constituted  the  outward  reflection  and  symbol 
of  the  mysteries  of  his  inward  life.  Here  his  food 
stood  ready  prepared  to  his  hand.  Here  his  earthly 
nature  had  its  appropriate  sphere,  where  the  widest 
lange  of  nis  understanding  could  find  nothing  evil 
for  him  except,  perhaps,  one  thing,  and  that  was  for¬ 
bidden  by  name.  Here  his  senses,  in  the  perfection 
of  their  action,  asked  only  what  Was  good,  and  were 
hallowed  by  the  presence  and  power  of  the  spiritual 
good  of  which  they  were  the  symbols.  For  as  his 
body  and  form  were  consecrated  as  the  symbol  of 
his  inward  nature  and  spiritual  characteristics,  so  the 
pleasures  of  the  senses  symbolized  spiritual  joys. 
This  is  evident  from  the  manner  in  which  the  senses 
of  the  body  are  used  in  the  Scriptures  to  signify  and 
set  forth  spiritual  things.  Here  his  sense  of  smelling, 
always  filled  but  never  cloyed  with  the  odors  of 
blossoms  and  ripe  fruit  and  with  all  sweet  perfumes, 
symbolized  that  spiritual  enjoyment  which  is  attri¬ 
buted  to  God  where  it  is  said,  that  he  smelled  a  sweet 
savor  from  the  sacrifice  of  Noah ;  to  express  which, 
frankincense,  myrrh,  aloes,  cassia,  and  other  power¬ 
ful  aromas,  were  employed  in  religious  worship. 
The  taste  of  his  food  symbolized  that  spiritual  good 
which  is  everywhere  in  the  Scriptures  represented 
by  reference  to  this  sense.  Thus  it  is  in  the  expressions, 
How  sweet  are  thy  words  to  my  taste ;  yea,  sweeter 
than  honey  to  my  mouth  !  It  is  my  meat  and  my 
drink  to  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 


86 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


His  sense  of  sight,  receiving  with  pleasure  all  that 
was  grand  and  beautiful  in  the  creation  of  God,  sym¬ 
bolized  that  which  is  in  like  manner  set  forth  under 
the  giatification  of  seeing.  Thus  St.  John  declares 
the  joy  of  the  saved  soul  by  the  fact  that  it  shall  see 
its  Redeemer  as  he  is.  Jesus  also  teaches  us  that 
theie  is  a  blessed  vision  of  God  which  comes  only  to 
the  pure  in  heart.  His  sense  of  hearing,  filled  and 
charmed  by  the  whispering  of  gentle  airs,  the  music 
of  flowing  waters,  the  choral  chant  of  birds,  and  led 
by  his  own  glad  voice  of  thanksgiving  and  praise, 
symbolized  that  spiritual  joy  which  is  set  forth  in 
the  Word  under  this  sense.  To  express  this  St. 
Paul  instructs  us  to  speak  to  each  other  in  psalms 
and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs.  To  touch  the  sources 
of  these  feelings  music  is  yet  retained  as  a  part  of 
the  woiship  of  God.  While  under  his  sense  of  feel- 
ing,  that  in  which  all  the  other  senses  are  summed 
up,  were  symbolized  the  highest  mysteries  of  his 
spiritual  nature  and  joys. 

But  in  order  that  the  truth  by  which  he  lived  might 
be  nourished  and  kept  living  in  man’s  heart,  it  was 
symbolized  in  the  most  perfect  manner.  In  the  midst 
of  the  gaiden  his  heavenly  Father  placed  two  trees, 
both  equally  fair  to  the  eye  and  fruitful ;  the  fruit  of 
both  equally,  as  far  as  man  could  see,  good  for  food, 
between  which  he  established  a  distinction  by 
his  authority,  and  called  them  by  names  significant 
of  the  truth  which  they  symbolized.  These  were 
really  and  truly  the  most  holy  sacraments  of  the 
primeval  church  of  God  on  earth. 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


87 


The  first  of  these  was  named  of  God  the  Tree  of 
Life,  and  sanctioned  for  man’s  eating.  In  order  that 
the  symbol  might  be  perfect,  we  may  understand 
that  the  fruit  of  this  tree  contained  the  principle  by 
which  his  earthly  and  mortal  nature  was  to  be  sus¬ 
tained  and  nourished  in  perennial  health  and  vigor. 
This  indeed  is  not  indispensable  to  its  symbolical 
character,  but  seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  reason 
hereafter  given  for  his  expulsion  from  the  garden, 
Lest  he  put  forth  his  hand ,  and  take  also  of  the  tree 
°f  Lfe,  and  eat  and  live  for  ever.  Also  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  nature  and  effects  of  the  bread  and 
wine  in  the  Eucharist,  nourishing  and  strengthening 
and  cheering  the  body,  correspond  to  their  holy  sym¬ 
bolical  character. 

In  that  this  tree  was  named  the  tree  of  life,  and  given 
him  for  food,  it  symbolized  before  his  eyes  and  reflect¬ 
ed  back  into  his  soul,  the  truth  which  was  written  there 
by  the  finger  of  God,  that  his  spiritual  life  of  innocence, 
love  and  happiness,  was  nourished  and  sustained  by 
choosing  the  good  which  was  marked  for  him  as 
right,  in  the  conscience  by  the  wisdom  and  authority 
of  his  heavenly  Father.  In  that  there  was  no  reason 
given  him  why  this  tree  was  distinguished  for  his 
food  from  the  other,  it  symbolized  the  truth  that  he 
was  to  be  implicitly  obedient  to  this  wisdom  of 
authority  revealed  within  him,  without  scrutinizing 
or  questioning  its  commands,  without  attempting  any 
prudential  insight  into  the  consequences  and  reasons 
upon  which  it  was  based,  but  in  the  unwavering 


88 


of  man  in  the  garden  of  faradise. 

faith  and  assurance,  that  thus  it  should  be  well  with 

im  ;  he  should  live.  As  the  eating  of  this  tree  was 
hie  to  his  earthly  and  mortal  nature,  so  implicit  obe¬ 
dience  to  the  wisdom  of  God  should  be  life  to  his 
soul.  To  him  this  tiee  was  the  most  holy  sacrament 
of  the  truth  that  he  must  be  implicitly  obedient  to  the 
wisdom  of  God  marking  the  good  for  him  as  right 

and  commanding  it,  that  he  might  know  to  choose  it 
and  live. 

The  other  tree  was  named  of  God  the  Tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Of  its  fruit  he  was  for¬ 
bidden  to  eat  upon  pain  of  death.  In  like  manner, 
although  it  be  not  essential  to  its  symbolical  charac¬ 
ter,  we  may  understand  that  this  tree  contained  in 
its  fruit  the  prolific  germ  of  physical  disease,  which, 
taken  into  the  constitution  of  man,  must  unfold  itself’ 

and  bring  forth  all  bodily  maladies,  until  it  should 
end  in  death  to  his  earthly  nature. 

As  the  former  was  the  tree  of  life,  so  this  was  the 
tree  of  death.  In  that  it  was  named  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  forbidden,  it  sym¬ 
bolized  the  truth  that  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  was  forbidden  to  man ;  that  he  could  not  dis¬ 
cern  between  these  things  by  his  wisdom  and  pru¬ 
dence.  To  him  the  evil  would  often  seem  fair  and 
desirable  as  the  good,  because  he  could  not  know 
them  in  their  essences,  nor  comprehend  the  everlast¬ 
ing  consequences  of  his  actions.  In  that  the  penalty 
of  death  was  attached  to  the  act  of  eating  of  the 
fruit  of  this  tree,  it  symbolized  the  truth  that  for  him 
to  aspire  to  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  would  be 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


89 


death  to  his  soul  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  moment  he 
should  attempt  to  discern  between  these  things  by 
his  own  wisdom  independently  of  the  Wisdom  of 
God,  to  choose  what  might  seem  good,  to  refuse  what 
might  seem  evil,  to  his  own  prudence,  he  must  choose 
amiss,  and,  by  his  own  foolish  act,  plunge  himself 
into  spiritual  death.  As  the  fruit  of  this  tree  should 
be  death  to  his  body,  so  the  fruit  of  his  choice  be¬ 
tween  good  and  evil  must  be  death  to  his  spiritual 
nature.  To  him  this  tree  Was  the  most  holy  sacra¬ 
ment  and  symbol  of  the  truth  that  it  would  be  his 
ruin  to  disobey  that  Wisdom  of  God  which  made  its 
oracles  known  through  his  conscience,  stigmatizing 
the  evil  as  wrong,  that  thus  he  might  be  warned 
against  what  must  degrade,  defile  and  destroy  his 
life  of  innocence,  love  and  joy. 

There  they  stood,  the  two  sacramental  Trees,  in 
the  midst  of  the  sphere  of  man’s  outward  life,  as  in 
the  midst  of  his  soul  stood  the  conscience,  the  shrine 
of  the  Word  of  God,  through  which  God  gave  to  him 
unerring  oracles  of  distinction  between  good  and 
evil.  There  they  stood,  the  one  marked  as  good,  the 
other  as  evil,  not  for  reasons  which  appeared  upon 
the  trees  themselves,  but  by  authority,  as  the  Word 
of  God  gave  his  oracles  of  distinction  between  good 
and  evil,  not  for  reasons  which  man’s  insight  into 
these  things  could  in  any  wise  comprehend,  but  by 
authority,  with  that  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  in 
their  essential  and  eternal  opposition,  in  that  view  of 
the  everlasting  fruit  of  actions,  which  were  compe¬ 
tent  only  to  the  eternal  and  omniscient  God,  There 


90 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


they  stood,  ever  before  his  eyes,  bodying  forth  to  his 
sense,  and  reflecting  back  into  his  soul,  these  spiritual 
truths  by  which  he  lived,  to  keep  them  ever  fresh  and 
living  in  his  heart.  There  they  stood,  not  to  try  his 
obedience,  to  see  whether  he  would  obey  or  not,  as 
is  so  often  supposed,  but  for  which  there  is  not  the 
least  foundation  in  the  Word  of  God  ;  but  given  unto 
him  by  the  infinite  love  of  his  heavenly  Father,  in 
perfect  knowledge  of  his  spiritual  necessities,  as 
means  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  his  spirit¬ 
ual  life.  There  they  stood,  as  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  now  stand  her  two  sacraments,  in¬ 
stituted  and  ordained  by  his  wisdom,  out  of  his  love, 
to  body  forth  to  the  sense  of  the  faithful,  and  to  re¬ 
flect  steadily  into  their  souls,  the  truth  by  which  they 
live. 

It  has  been  said  by  Voltaire  that,  “the  account 
given  in  the  Bible  of  the  Fall  of  man  only  shows  how 
much  the  God  of  Jews  and  Christians  cares  for  his 
apples,  and  how  little  he  loves  his  children.”  Fool ! 
Flad  that  man,  in  whom  the  subtlety  of  the  serpent 
was  developed  to  its  last  term,  to  its  highest  perfec¬ 
tion,  known  anything  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  nature 
of  man,  had  he  ever  reflected  upon  his  own  necessi¬ 
ties,  or  upon  the  symbols  of  religion  and  art,  or  even 
felt  the  inspiration  of  the  true  poet,  he  could  not  have 
made  of  himself  such  an  egregious  and  transparent 
fool  as  is  revealed  in  this  sneer  upon  that,  the  divine 
significance  of  which  had  never  dawned  upon  his 
darkened  soul. 

The  love  of  Jesus  Christ  for  his  people,  for  whom 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


91 


he  laid  down  his  life  upon  the  cross,  beams  not  from 
the  sacrament  of  his  broken  body  and  shed  blood 
with  more  certainty,  than  does  the  love  of  God  from 
these  two  trees  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  of  para¬ 
dise.  Without  them  the  fall  of  man  would  not  only 
have  been  possible,  but  perhaps,  it  would  have  been 
inevitable.  For,  as,  where  the  sacraments  which 
Christ  has  instituted,  are  rejected  by  men,  there  the 
truth  which  they  symbolize  soon  perishes  out  of  their 
hearts,  so  it  would  seem,  if  the  truths  by  which  man 
lived  had  not  been  bodied  forth  in,  and  reflected  from 
these  sacraments,  must  it  have  perished  out  of  the 
heart  of  him,  who,  because  his  life  was  constituted  in 
the  union  of  body  and  soul,  needed  that  the  truth  by 
which  he  lived  should  be  presented  to  his  senses,  no 
less  than  that  it  should  be  written  upon  his  heart. 

In  order  now  that  we  may  the  better  perceive  with 
what  feelings  this  authoritative  law  of  distinction  be¬ 
tween  good  and  evil  was  recognised  by  the  heart  of 
man,  we  must  consider  that  the  law  which  was  writ¬ 
ten  upon  his  soul  was  that  of  love.  He  recognised 
the  authority  of  God  over  him  as  the  authority  of 
love.  His  submission  to  it  was  the  submission  of  love. 
His  dependence  upon  God  was  the  dependence  of 
love.  This  it  was  which  made  the  home  of  his  inno¬ 
cence  the  garden  of  delight. 

This  love  was  mutual  between  God  and  man.  To 
teach  us  what  it  once  was,  and  what  it  must  be,  in 
order  that  our  well-being  and  happiness  should  be 
derived  through  it  from  heaven  to  earth,  the  great 
and  good  Creator  has  erected  in  the  bosom  of  human 


92  OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 

life  two  most  powerful  and  expressive  symbols  of  its 
true  character.  These  are  the  mutual  relations  be¬ 
tween  the  parents  and  the  child,  and  that  between 
the  husband  and  the  wife.  For  nature  and  the  brute 
God  is  the  Creator,  because  they  are  not  capable  of 
the  knowledge  of  him  to  whom  they  owe  their  exist¬ 
ence,  and  all  their  enjoyments,  therefore  not  capable 
of  love  to  him.  But  for  man  he  is  both  Father  and 
Husband.  These  relations  are  consecrated  as  sym¬ 
bols  by  God  himself,  and  assumed  as  such  in  all  such 
expressions  as  the  following  :  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven,  I  am  married  to  you,  Thy  maker  is  thy  hus¬ 
band .  To  understand  therefore  this  relation  of  love 
between  man  and  God,  we  must  empty  these  divine 
symbols  of  some  of  their  inexhaustible  significance. 

The  feeling  of  a  father  for  his  child  is  known  only 
by  experience ;  but  its  manifestations  in  life  are  be¬ 
fore  the  eyes  of  alh  The  father  lives  in  and  for  his 
child.  Its  pain  is  his  pain.  While  he  beholds  it 
sporting  for  an  hour  in  the  fulness  of  its  fresh  and 
joyous  life,  its  presence  is  a  rich  reward  for  a  day  of 
severest  labor.  His  wisdom  and  strength  are  taxed 
to  the  uttermost  to  provide  for  its  support.  When 
his  spirits  worn  down  with  fatigue,  begin  to  sink 
under  the  burden  of  his  toil  and  care,  the  thought, 
It  is  for  my  child,  pours  new  vigor  into  his  heart  and 
renerves  his  wearied  arm.  For  the  life  of  his  child 
he  would  gladly  give  his  own.  O  Absalom,  my  son, 
my  son !  Would  God  I  had  died  for  thee;  O  Absalom, 
my  son,  my  son!  Such  is  the  love  of  God  for  man, 
which,  while  he  remained  in  his  innocence,  poured 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


93 


without  any  obstruction  as  the  stream  from  the  full 
spring,  into  his  heart. 

But  this  symbol  has  not  all  its  strength  and  perfec¬ 
tion  without  the  love  of  the  mother  also,  which  is, 
if  possible,  more  pure  and  self-sacrificing  than  that 
of  the  father. 

For  every  day  may  be  seen  the  beautiful  girl, 
whose  life  has  been  passed  in  the  midst  of  luxury, 
courted,  flattered  and  served  by  all  around  her,  upon 
the  birth  of  her  first  child,  turned  at  once  into  a  vo¬ 
luntary  bondwoman.  For  it  she  is  content  to  lay 
aside  her  dress  and  ornaments  with  which  she  was 
formerly  so  delighted  to  deck  her  beauty.  Joyfully 
she  foregoes  the  gay  company  of  which  she  was  wont 
to  be  the  star  and  charm,  for  the  presence  of  her 
child.  For  it  she  wastes  her  beauty  and  her  health. 
She  watches  beside  its  infant  slumbers  until  her  cheek 
grows  pale,  and  her  eye  loses  its  lustre.  While  she 
gazes  upon  its  fair  rounded  limbs,  and  beholds  its  cheek 

“  Mantling  in  first  luxury  of  health,” 

V  "-,r  v'  *  *  f  '  V  \ 

as  it  reposes  so  peacefully  upon  her  bosom,  her  heart 
overflows  upon  it  with  love  and  exquisite  happiness. 
But  when  it  suffers,  her  heart  is  heavy  and  pained. 
She  cannot  rest.  She  performs  for  it  the  most  me¬ 
nial  offices.  Her  greatest  unhappiness  is  that  she 
cannot  relieve  its  sufferings  by  bearing  them  herself. 
She  knows  no  pleasure  until  the  little  one,  the  lord 
of  her  affections,  smiles  again  in  returning  health  and 
beauty.  But  if  God  should  call  her  to  surrender  the 


94 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 


child  into  his  arms  to  crucify  her  idolatry,  as  he  so 
often  does,  she  droops  like  the  flower  whose  root  has 
been  severed  by  the  ploughshare.  Not  unfrequently 
she  goes  heart-pained  to  the  grave.  Rachel  weeps 
for  her  children  and  will  not  be  comforted  because 
they  are  not.  It  is  a  beauty  and  a  mystery.  But 
the  love  of  God  for  man,  which  filled  his  heart  in  his 
innocence,  transcends  all  this  ;  for,  although  a  woman 
may  forget  her  sucking  child,  yet  God  cannot  forget 
his  children. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  infant,  while  he  hangs  in 
conscious  dependence  and  instinctive  faith  upon  his 
parents,  is  the  image  of  the  child-man  before  he  had 
sinned,  in  the  simplicity  of  his  faith  and  conscious 
dependence  upon  God  his  heavenly  Father.  Not 
that  the  child  is  by  nature  pure,  but  the  evil  in  him 
is  yet  undeveloped.  The  relation  which  he  bears  to 
his  parents  is  a  symbol  of  the  relation  which  the 
child  of  God  bears  to  him.  He  lives  and  moves 
and  has  his  being  in  the  bosom  of  his  parents’  love. 
Their  love  shed  abroad  in  his  little  heart  awakens 
the  sweetest  love  in  return.  If  he  is  the  offspring  of 
Christians,  and  is  trained  up  as  a  child  of  promise 
an  heir  of  the  submission  of  Christ,  in  his  first  years 
he  lives  in  the  untouched  conviction  that  the  wisdom 
and  choice  and  will  of  his  parents  are  better  for 
him  than  his  own.  But  because  this  preference  of 
their  will  before  his  own  pleasure  springs  from  faith 
and  love,  it  is  not  a  bondage,  but  perfect  freedom. 
His  sweetest  feeling,  his  dearest  joy  is  the  thought, 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE.  95 

It  will  please  my  father ;  it  will  make  my  mother's 
heart  glad. 

To  express  this  infantine  relation  which  the  child 
of  God  bears  to  his  Father,  St.  Paul  puts  into  his 
mouth  that  word  which,  in  some  or  other  of  its  forms 
in  almost  all  languages,  children  first  learn  to  lisp  to 
their  parents,  the  word  Ahha.  This  is  the  child’s 
word  for  father.  And  Jesus  himself  could  find  no¬ 
thing  which  would  so  well  illustrate  the  character 
of  a  true  child  of  God,  as  a  little  child.  Therefore 
he  says,  Except  ye  he  converted ,  and  become  as  little 
children ,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Therefore  also  he  calls  those  who  believe  on  him, 
these  little  ones. 

This  in  its  greatest  strength  is  weak  to  describe 
and  set  forth  the  love  with  which  man  in  his  inno¬ 
cence  recognised  the  authority  of  his  heavenly 
Father  over  him.  And  because  it  is  of  itself  inade¬ 
quate,  God  has  established  another  expression  of  it 
which  is  more  full  and  significant.  This  is  the  mar¬ 
riage  union  between  man  and  woman.  As  we  have 
seen,  this  union  is  ordained  of  God  to  be  the  holy 
symbol  of  the  relation  which  the  soul  of  man  was 
intended  to  bear,  and  once  bore,  to  him.  To  de- 
velope  this  symbolical  character  of  marriage,  and  to 
work  out  the  symbol  in  detail,  is  the  object  of  that 
Song  of  Songs  which  is  Solomon's.  And  woe  to  them 
who  would  degrade  this  divinest  of  sacred  poems 
into  the  mere  expressions  of  the  earthly  love ! 
Their  souls  are  darkened  by  pollution  so  that  they 


96  OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 

V  “  *  f  ,  . 

cannot  see.  The  things  which  make  for  their  peace 
are  hid  from  their  eyes. 

Marriage  then  between  man  and  woman,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  ordination  of  God,  in  that  unity  which  has 
been  already  indicated,  leads  to  the  mutual  supposi¬ 
tion  of  each  other’s  happiness  in  place  of  their  own, 
in  all  things  pertaining  to  the  mortal  life.  When  it 
goes  beyond  this,  as  we  have  seen,  it  becomes  idola¬ 
try,  by  the  substitution  in  the  affections  of  the  form 
for  the  substance,  of  the  symbol  for  the  thing  sym¬ 
bolized.  The  highest  human  happiness  of  the  hus¬ 
band  consists  and  is  found  in  supporting,  sustaining, 
cherishing,  guiding  and  watching  over  his  wife,  from 
love.  The  highest  human  joy  of  the  wife  consists 
and  is  found  in  pleasing  her  husband  from  love. 
This  is  the  symbol.  But  it  is  inadequate  also.  The 
love  of  God  for  man  in  his  innocence,  infinitely 
transcends  all  this.  For  the  marriage  union  is  tem¬ 
porary  and  dissolved  at  death.  But  the  union  be¬ 
tween  God  and  his  children  survives  the  dissolution 
of  the  earthly  nature,  and  is  eternal.  Marriage  is 
dissolved  during  this  life  by  one  offence.  But  God 
represents  himself  as  forgiving  and  passing  over 
even  this,  out  of  the  fulness  of  his  love  for  the 
espoused  soul. 

By  many  others,  but  especially  by  these  powerful 
symbols,  erected  in  the  bosom  of  daily  life,  which 
are  universal,  and  must  continue  while  man  con¬ 
tinues  to  exist  upon  the  earth,  has  the  Father  and 
Husband  of  the  human  spirit  brought  near  to  us, 
and  embodied  before  our  eyes,  to  reflect  it  steadily 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 

into  our  hearts,  that  which  all  words,  all  figures,  all 
symbols  do  utterly  fail  to  describe  ;  which  all  ideas 
must  for  ever  fail  to  reach  and  comprehend,  that  love 
wherewith  he  has  loved  us,  and  that  which  once 
reigned  in  man’s  heart  towards  him.  These  rela¬ 
tions  are  therefore,  once  and  for  ever,  hallowed  by 
the  truth  which  they  are  constituted  to  symbolize 
and  leflect.  No  child  should  ever  be  brought  up 
without  being  imbreathed  with  the  knowledge  of  the 
holy  symbolical  character  of  the  relation  which  he 
bears  to  his  parents.  No  marriage  should  ever  be 
solemnized  where  its  symbolical  character  is  not  re¬ 
cognised  ;  for  this  only  can  hallow  it. 

To  have  any  idea  and  feeling  therefore  of  the  re¬ 
lation  between  God  and  the  first  human  pair  in  their 
innocence,  through  which  all  their  happiness  was 
derived  from  him  into  their  souls,  we  must  behold 
him  sustaining  them,  guiding  them,  watching  over 
and  protecting  them,  communing  with  them  from 
within  and  without,  reflecting  himself  in  them,  in 
love — a  love  more  tender  and  faithful  than  that  of 
father  and  mother  and  husband  all  in  one.  We 
must  behold  them  hanging  upon  him  with  the  con¬ 
scious  dependence  and  instinctive  faith  of  a  little 
child  upon  its  parents ;  drawing  the  food  of  their 
spirits  from  his  perfections,  as  the  infant  draws  its 
nourishment  with  exquisite  enjoyment  from  the  bo¬ 
som  of  its  mother — we  must  behold  them  recognis¬ 
ing  his  voice  from  within  and  without,  which  made 
known  his  oracles  of  distinction  between  good  and 
evil,  marking  the  good  as  right,  and  stigmatizing  the 

5 


98  OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE. 

evil  as  wrong— we  must  behold  them  reflecting  his 
distinctions  between  good  and  evil;  feeling  them¬ 
selves  to  be  sustained,  watched  over  and  protecte  , 
guided,  and  communed  with  in  love,  with  a  love  in  re¬ 
turn  more  tender  and  blissful  than  that  of  the  good 
child  for  its  father  and  mother;  than  that  ot  tie 
faithful  and  affectionate  wife  for  her  husband,  both 

in  one.  ^ 

Hail  to  the  new- wedded  pair !  Blessings  upon 

the  first  human  children  of  God !  To  whom  it  is 
given  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  picture  which  God 
has  placed  before  us  of  their  innocence  and  felicity, 
to  feel  its  transcendent  power,  his  soul  is  awed  and 
subdued ;  his  heart  kindles  and  glows ;  but  he  can¬ 
not  tell  what  he  sees. 

Here  in  Paradise,  in  the  garden  of  delight,  the 
race  of  man  passed  its  innocent  and  happy,  but  alas  ! 
its  brief  and  fleeting  infancy.  To  this  period  it  still 
looks  back  with  fond  and  tender  regret.  The  litera¬ 
ture  of  the  first  ages,  among  all  nations,  retains  the 
tradition  of  a  golden  age*  when  sin  and  sorrow  were 

*  “First  rose  an  age  of  Gold,  of  its  free  choice, 

No  judge,  no  law,  revering  right  and  truth. 

Fears,  penalties  were  not.  No  threatening  words, 

Graved  on  the  public  tablet,  yet  were  read. 

No  suppliant  crowd  before  the  avenger’s  face 
Trembled  ;  but  free  from  harm  and  safe  were  all. 
Unscathed,  nor  dragged  down  to  the  liquid  waves 
To  visit  foreign  shores,  the  ancient  pine 
Upon  his  native  mountains  stood  secure  : 

Nor  mortals  knew  of  coasts  beyond  their  own. 

No  trenches  steep  girded  defended  towns. 

Horns  of  curved  brass  and  trumpets  straight  were  not ; 


OF  MAN  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  PARADISE.  99 

as  yet  unknown.  Dimmed  and  obscured  indeed  it 
has  been  by  time,  but  it  could  not  be  blotted  out. 
It  is  with  the  human  race  as  with  each  individual. 
Foi  it  is  with  fond  and  tender  regret  that  we  bear 
m  our  hearts  the  memory  of  our  childhood ;  of  those 
yeais  of  simplicity  and  love  and  happiness  which 
we  spent  under  the  guardianship  and  guidance  of 
our  parents,  hanging  upon  them  in  conscious  de¬ 
pendence  and  implicit  faith,  and  nourished  by  their 
providence  and  love.  In  the  midst  of  the  turmoil 
of  after  life,  forgetful  of  the  curse  of  shame  and  toil 
and  sorrow  and  death,  how  often  do  we  pause  while 
a  father’s  blessing  or  a  mother’s  kiss  comes  back 
upon  us  like  the  vision  of  a  lost  paradise  !  And  man 
himself,  in  the  feeling  of  that  unutterable  craving, 
which  sends  him  forth  under  the  guidance  of  his 
own  wisdom  upon  an  ever-fruitless  quest,  carries 
with  him  into  every  portion  of  the  earth,  and  down 
thiough  the  ages  of  time,  the  painful  memento  of  his 
lost  innocence  and  happiness. 

Helmet,  nor  sword.  Unskilled  in  deeds  of  arms, 

Secure  the  nations  passed  their  happy  years. 

Unwounded  by  the  plough  or  iron  teeth, 

Of  her  own  will  earth  gave  her  various  fruits. 

Content  with  simple  food,  with  relish  keen, 

Nutritious  fruits  from  hedge  and  tree  and  field, 

Man  plucked  and  ate,  by  luxury  undefiled. 

I  resh  bloomed  eternal  spring  ;  and  Zephyrs  warm 
Caressed  the  flowers  born  of  the  seedless  earth, 

Unfilled,  nor  heavy  with  the  bearded  grain. 

Rivers  of  milk,  rivers  of  nectar  flowed, 

And  yellow  honey  from  the  oak  distilled.” 

Ovid,  I.,  Met.  iii. 


100 


OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 

“Now  the  serpent  was  more  subtle  than  any  beast  of  the  field 
which  Jehovah  God  had  made.” 

The  symbolical  character  of  this  account  of  the 
temptation  of  man  by  the  serpent  breaks  out  with 
such  clearness  and  power  that  it  has  forced  itself  to 
be  recognised  by  all,  even  by  those  who  most  ear¬ 
nestly  insist  upon  the  narrative  as  historical.  In  all 
ages  it  has  been  discerned  that  what  is  here,  and 
hereafter,  spoken  of  the  serpent  is  intended  to  apply, 
not  to  the  reptile  alone,  but  also  to  Satan,  the  spiritual 
tempter  and  adversary  of  man.  Yet  it  is  nowhere 
in  the  Word  of  God  declared  that  there  was  any 
spiritual  power  concerned  in  this  matter ;  much  less 
that  the  Devil  had  any  hand  in  it.  Even  in  the  New 
Testament,  where  the  subject  is  mentioned,  it  is  still 
the  serpent  that  beguiled  Eve. 

But  the  whole  tenor  of  Scripture  seems  to  imply 
that  it  was  Satan  who,  under  the  form  of  the  serpent, 
here  seduced  the  human  race  from  its  simplicity  and 
innocence.  For  the  name  Satan  signifies  adversary; 
and  the  supposition  that  it  was  he  who  first  set  him¬ 
self  to  destroy  the  well-being  of  man  gives  applica- 


OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT.  101 

•  .  ^  '  ‘1  \  J 

tion  and  appropriateness  to  this  name.  He  is  de¬ 
clared  by  the  Lord  to  be  a  liar,  the  father  of  lies,  and 
a  murderer  from  the  beginning ;  as  if  he  had  been 
the  inventor  of  that  original  lie  by  which  was  accom¬ 
plished  the  murder  of  man  in  soul  and  body.  He  is 
also  called  the  Devil ,  that  is  to  say,  the  slanderer;  as 
if  he  had  been  the  originator  of  that  horrible  slander 
which,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  is  contained  in  the 
words,  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof, 
ye  shall  be  as  Gods ,  knowing  good  and  evil.  Every¬ 
where  in  the  Scriptures  Satan  is  the  tempter  of  man 
by  eminence.  He  tempted  Job,  Judas,  Ananias  and 
Elymas,  with  many  others.  He  tempted  Christ  the 
second  Adam.  St.  John  expressly  calls  him  the 
dragon ,  that  old  serpent ,  that  is  the  devil,  as  if  to 
identify  him  with  the  serpent  here  mentioned.  It 
seems  to  be  in  allusion  to  the  curse  hereafter  pro¬ 
nounced  upon  the  serpent  that  St.  Paul  encourages 
the  disciples  in  the  words,  The  God  of  peace  shall 
bruise  Satan  under  your  feet  shortly.  From  these 
and  many  other  passages,  the  Church  in  all  ages, 
both  Jewish  and  Christian,  has  uniformly  held  to  one 
faith  upon  this  point,  that  it  is  Satan  who  is  here  de¬ 
scribed  under  the  form  and  symbol  of  the  serpent  as 
the  tempter  of  man. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  the  curse  hereafter 
pronounced  upon  this  reptile,  upon  thy  belly  shalt 
thou  go,  that  its  form  was  different  before  it  became 
the  instrument  of  the  Devil  in  the  temptation  from 
that  in  which  we  now  behold  it.  For  most  certainly 
this  curse  was  not  for  the  punishment  of  the  creature, 


102  OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 

but  for  the  instruction  of  man.  Also  the  curse  ol 
subjection  was  pronounced  upon  the  woman  as  a 
punishment  for  her  sin,  although  as  we  have  seen, 
she  was  to  be  subject  to  her  husband  from,  and  in 
virtue  of,  her  creation.  We  may  understand  theie- 
fore,  that  it  was  the  serpent  as  we  now  behold  it  into 
which  the  spiritual  adversary  of  man  entered  to  de¬ 
ceive  and  ruin  him. 

From  what  has  been  already  determined  of  the 
power  of  symbols  over  the  heart  and  life  of  man , 
since  God  hinself  assumes  a  visible  representation  of 
his  attributes  in  order  the  more  vividly  and  power¬ 
fully  to  impress  them  upon  those  to  whom  he  appeals, 
and  upon  all  men  by  his  incarnation,  it  will  not  seem 
strange  that  the  power  of  evil,  seeking  to  reflect  his 
likeness  in  man,  should  also  assume  a  visible  form. 
Nay,  according  to  this  view,  it  would  seem  indispens¬ 
able  to  his  success ;  otherwise  his  suggestions  would 
have  been  powerless,  as  mere  ideas  are  always  found 
to  be.  It  would  seem  therefore  that  they  who  find 
an  insuperable  objection  to  the  historical  and  liteial 
character  of  this  account  in  the  fact  that  in  it  a  talk¬ 
ing  snake  is  introduced,  have  not  profoundly  consi¬ 
dered  this  trait  of  human  nature.  Also  they  do  err 
not  knowing  the  Scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God. 
For  as  he,  in  order  to  re-instamp  his  own  image  upon 
the  human  soul,  assumes  that  form  which  best  leflects 
it,  the  form  of  a  man  in  Christ  Jesus,  so  Satan,  in 
seeking  to  deface  and  destroy  this  image,  and  to  fill 
its  place  with  his  own  likeness,  assumed  that  form  in 


OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 


103 


the  serpent  which  best  symbolizes  and  expresses  his 
own  nature  and  attributes. 

To  this  reptile  is  here  ascribed  a  subtlety  above 
every  other  animal  which  God  had  made.  In  order 
therefore  to  comprehend  the  nature  of  that  likeness 
of  himself  which  the  adversary  sought  to  reflect  in 
the  soul  of  man,  in  place  of  the  image  of  God,  we 
must  inquire  and  carefully  determine  what  subtlety 
is,  as  opposed  to  animal  instinct  on  the  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other,  to  true  wisdom. 

The  operations  of  mere  instinct  are  to  be  recog¬ 
nised  by  these  traits  ;  They  are  direct ,  and  perfect 
without  experience,  without  the  foresight  of  the  object 
and  end  to  be  obtained  by  the  actions  to  which  they 
prompt,  and  without  any  process  of  reasoning.  This 
is  evident  from  examples  which  fall  under  the  obser¬ 
vation  of  all.  For  when  the  lamb  first  applies  itself 
to  the  teat  of  its  mother  it  is  wholly  without  experi¬ 
ence  ;  the  data  for  a  process  of  reasoning  are  there¬ 
fore  wanting,  if  it  were  capable  of  such  a  thing  ;  and 
all  foresight  of  what  is  to  be  obtained  by  such  an  act 
before  experience  must  be  impossible.  That  which 
leads  it  to  do  this  for  the  first  time,  as  soon  as  it  is 
yeaned,  is  instinct.  The  illustration  is  equally  per¬ 
fect  in  the  case  of  the  human  child.  It  is  blind  in¬ 
stinct  which  teaches  it  to  suck  for  the  first  time. 
Also,  if  the  eggs  of  the  sparrow  be  taken  from  the 
nest  and  hatched  by  artificial  means,  the  young  birds, 
kept  shut  up  in  their  cage  from  all  intercourse  with 
their  kind,  at  the  proper  season,  will  build  their  first 
nest,  if  the  material  be  provided,  precisely  like  that 


104  OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 

from  which  they  were  taken  while  in  the  shell. 
Here,  as  before,  experience,  a  foreseen  result,  and  a 
process  of  reasoning,  are  alike  impossible.  They 
cannot  know  for  what  the  nest  is  intended;  they 
cannot  have  learned  the  art  of  building  it ;  nor  can 
they  foresee  the  brood  which  they  are  piepaiing  to 
rear.  This  is  that  blind  yet  direct  instinct,  which,  by 
a  figure  of  speech,  may  be  called  the  conscience  of 
the  brute,  since  it  is  like  the  conscience  of  man  in 
this  that  it  is  direct  in  its  operations,  and  a  guide  of 
life,  of  practical  choice  between  good  and  evil,  which 
is  prior  to,  and  independent  of,  the  calculation  of  the 
results  and  consequences  of  actions.  This  is  not  the 
subtlety  here  ascribed  to  the  serpent  which  made  it 
the  fit  instrument  of  the  malice,  and  most  expressive 
symbol  of  the  character  and  attributes  of  the  tempter 

of  man. 

For  there  is  in  animals  a  kind  of  wisdom  which  is 
very  different  from  this,  which  is  neither  blind  nor 
direct,  which  is  capable  of  reasoning  from  experi¬ 
ence  in  foresight  of  an  object  and  end  to  be  obtained. 
This  also  is  evident  from  facts  which  every  one  may 
observe  and  verify  for  himself.  Foi  the  haie  when 
pursued,  instead  of  flying  directly  away,  turns  towards 
the  hounds,  doubles  and  redoubles  upon  the  couise, 
crosses  and  recrosses  her  tracks.  This  she  does  to 
confuse  the  scent.  The  deer,  when  close  followed, 
takes  the  water,  and  swims  down  the  stream  as  tar 
as  he  can,  to  throw  the  dogs  off  his  trail.  These, 
coming  down  to  the  water,  immediately  infer  that 
the  game  must  have  crossed.  They  plunge  in, 


OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 


105 


and  on  the  other  side  commence  a  search  up  and 
down  the  stream,  in  the  course  of  which  they  soon 
find  the  lost  trail.  So  also  the  racoon,  when  hard 
pressed,  looks  out  a  tall  tree  which  has  been  blown 
down  into  a  reclining  position,  mounts  upon  it  at  the 
root  where  it  touches  the  ground,  and  runs  along  the 
trunk  to  a  height  beyond  which  he  does  not  consider 
it  safe  to  jump,  then  springs  as  far  as  he  can  from  the 
tree  to  the  ground,  and  strikes  off'  in  a  different  direc¬ 
tion  from  that  which  he  has  hitherto  followed.  This 
he  does  to  throw  the  dogs  off  his  track,  that  he  may 
escape  while  they  are  seeking  to  recover  it.  What 
he  has  foreseen  and  calculated  upon  takes  place. 
For  when  his  pursuers  come  up  to  the  root  of  the 
tree,  the  young  dogs  are  utterly  at  fault.  They 
hunt  around  the  root,  and  up  along  the  tree,  but  in 
vain.  The  spring  of  the  game  has  passed  far  beyond 
them.  But  if  there  be  among  them  an  old  and  sub¬ 
tle  hound,  experienced  in  the  hunting  of  this  animal, 
it  is  not  so  with  him.  He  knows  instantly  what  has 
been  done,  for  he  has  been  often  before  deceived  by 
the  same  trick,  and  he  takes  his  measures  accordingly. 
Starting  from  the  point  where  the  scent  is  lost,  he 
fetches  a  compass  wide  around  the  inclining  tree,  at 
such  a  distance  from  it  that  no  spring  could  have 
reached  beyond  him ;  and  before  he  has  returned  to 
the  same  point  again  of  necessity  he  has  found  the 
lost  trail.  As  soon  as  he  strikes  it  he  signalizes  the 
other  dogs  with  his  cry,  and  the  whole  pack,  giving 
up  their  own  search,  follow  where  he  leads.  This, 
in  the  pursuers  and  the  pursued,  is  craft,  cunning, 

5*- 


106  OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 

subtlety.  It  has  nothing  of  the  directness  and  sim¬ 
plicity  of  instinct.  It  manifests  as  clearly  as  these 
things  can  be  manifested,  a  foresight  of  the  object  to 
be  obtained,  a  process  of  reasoning  based  upon  ex¬ 
perience,  and  the  inference  of  a  practical  conclusion. 
If  there  be  any  doubt  that  brutes  are  capable  of  all 
this,  in  higher  or  lower  degrees,  the  doubt  must  be 
removed  by  observation. 

This  is  the  quality  here  ascribed  to  the  serpent,  in 
a  degree  above  that  of  every  other  animal.  In  the 
brute  it  is  not  an  evil,  but  its  highest  excellence  and 
glory,  because  its  nature  is  oj  the  earth,  eai  thy ,  and 
incapable  of  the  knowledge  of  God  and  spiritual 
things — incapable  of  immortality.  But  the  word  sub¬ 
tlety  when  applied  to  man  is  used  in  a  bad  sense. 
We  do  not  call  him  a  crafty  or  cunning  or  subtle 
man  who  follows  justice  and  righteousness  with  fide¬ 
lity,  however  prudent  he  may  be.  In  him  this  selfish 
and  calculating  wisdom  is  governed  and  subdued  by 
the  paramount  authority  of  right  and  wrong ;  that  is 
to  say,  his  own  wisdom  is  informed  with  and  control¬ 
led  by,  the  Wisdom  of  God  revealed  through  his  con¬ 
science.  This  is  true  wisdom. 

This  subtlety  therefore  is  the  nature  of  the  wisdom 
of  Satan.  It  is  his  own  creature  wisdom  erected 
into  independence  of,  and  opposition  to  the  Wisdom 
of  God. 

But,  in  order  to  comprehend  its  evil  nature  in 
him,  we  must  recall  what  are  the  necessary  conse¬ 
quences  of  following  it  as  a  law  and  guide  of  dis¬ 
tinction  between  good  and  evil,  in  every  creature  of 


OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 


107 


God  which  is  destined  to  immortality.  For  since 
the  creature  cannot  foresee  the  everlasting  conse¬ 
quences  of  his  actions  upon  himself,  nor  compre¬ 
hend  the  reasons  of  what  God  has  commanded  and 
forbidden,  in  the  first  step  of  following  this  guide 
he  rebels  against  God.  This  is  his  sin.  Also  of 
necessity  he  chooses  evil  for  good,  because  he 
ceases  to  obey  that  Wisdom  of  God  which  only  can 
be  a  sufficient  and  unerring  guide  of  practical  choice 
between  good  and  evil.  The  evil  which  he  chooses 
enters  into  his  own  nature  and  defiles  and  degrades 
it  still  more  and  more  continually.  Thus  in  place 
of  the  high  and  pure  and  benevolent  affections,  all 
evil  and  malignant  passions  are  developed  and 
strengthened.  Thus  subtlety  becomes  the  wisdom 
of  enmity.  In  its  highest  possible  development 
without  the  guidance  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  it  is 
adequate  only  to  choose,  and  to  accomplish  evil, 
both  for  him  who  follows  it,  and  for  all  who  are  the 
objects  of  it. 

For,  however  acute  and  far-sighted  it  may  be¬ 
come,  it  can  never  rise  to  infinity,  so  as  to  compre¬ 
hend  all  the  fruit  of  actions ;  and  therefore  cannot 
guard  the  creature  against  the  choice  of  evil  for 
himself,  while  he  means  only  evil  for  others.  This 
wisdom  of  itself  is  adequate  only  to  the  accomplish¬ 
ment  of  immediate  objects  ;  it  must  overreach  itself 
in  the  end.  The  more  successful  it  seems  for  the 
present,  the  more  unsuccessful  it  afterwards  finds 
itself,  because  the  evil  which  the  creature,  under  its 
guidance,  seeks  to  inflict  upon  others,  returns  into 


108  OP  the  subtlety  op  the  serpent. 

himself.  The  greater  its  development  in  opposition 
to  the  Wisdom  of  God,  that  is  to  say,  the  more 
powerful  it  becomes  to  work  its  immediate  evil  ob¬ 
jects,  the  deeper  does  it  plunge  him  who  follows  it 
into  degradation  and  ruin.  Of  it  this  paradox  is 
perfectly  true,  The  more  far-sighted  it  becomes,  the 
more  short-sighted  it  is. 

Hence  it  is  that,  while  in  the  spiritual  adversary 
of  man  (who  is  here  spoken  of  under  the  symbol  of 
the  serpent,  the  most  subtle  of  all  animals),  this 
wisdom  is  developed  to  its  highest  perfection,  he 
is  also  the  most  malignant,  degraded  and  abo¬ 
minable  of  all  the  creatures  which  Jehovah  God 
has  made.  He  is  wise  only  to  do  evil ;  and  in  that, 
sure  to  overreach  himself.  This  is  evident  from  all 
his  acts  as  they  are  recorded  in  the  Scriptures.  For 
in  his  temptation  of  the  first  Adam  he  accomplished 
his  immediate  evil  object,  but  thereby  he  placed  his 
head  under  the  heel  of  the  seed  of  the  woman,  the 
second  Adam,  to  be  crushed,  which  he  did  not 
mean.  When  he  tempted  the  patriarch  Job,  he  be¬ 
came  the  means  of  inflicting  upon  him  only  that 
suffering  and  sorrow  which  the  Wisdom  of  God  had 
seen  to  be  indispensable  to  the  perfection  of  his 
spiritual  life,  and  everlasting  well-being.  In  his 
temptation  of  Christ  he  only  succeeded  in  perfecting 
the  captain  of  man’s  salvation,  by  the  experience  of 
his  seducing  power,  in  that  sympathy  with  his 
tempted  brethren  which  was  necessary  in  him  in 
order  that  he  might  deliver  them  out  of  the  power 
of  the  devil.  Even  in  his  greatest  achievement 


OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT.  109 

upon  earth,  when  he  tempted  Judas  to  betray,  and 
the  Jews  to  crucify  the  Lord  of  Glory,  in  which  he 
aimed  at  the  perdition  of  the  Redeemer,  and  of  the 
race  which  he  came  to  save,  he  succeeded  only  in 
exalting  the  man  Jesus  above  every  creature,  and 
laid  that  only  foundation-stone  of  the  salvation  of 
the  human  race  which  could  be  laid,  which  is  Christ 
crucified.  By  his  own  act  he  destroyed  his  own 
power,  and  plunged  himself  into  the  abyss  of  hell. 

Now,  as  we  have  seen,  in  order  that  man  should 
remain  in  the  estate  in  which  he  was  created,  it  was 
necessary  that  this  calculating  wisdom  in  him, 
which  depended  for  its  practical  conclusions  Upon 
the  foresight  of  the  object  to  be  obtained,  and  upon 
processes  of  reasoning,  should  be  held  in  perfect 
and  implicit  subjection  to  the  Wisdom  of  God  re¬ 
vealed  in  the  form  of  authority  through  the  con¬ 
science.  Upon  this  perfect  subordination,  his  spi¬ 
ritual  life  and  well-being  depended.  Therefore,  in 
seeking  his  ruin,  the  adversary  must  try  to  induce 
him  to  throw  off,  to  rebel  against  this  authoritative 
Wisdom  of  God  as  the  guide  of  his  life,  and  to  adopt 
in  its  place  his  own  insight  and  prudence  as  the  law 
of  distinction  between  good  and  evil.  In  other 
words,  he  must  tempt  man  to  choose  between  good 
and  evil  by  his  own  wisdom  rather  than  according 
to  the  Wisdom  of  God.  Therefore  he  chose  as  the 
instrument  of  his  temptation  the  serpent,  in  which 
this  subtlety  was  higher  and  more  perfect  than  in 
any  other  creature,  that  by  means  of  it  he  might 
reflect  his  own  likeness  of  subtlety  in  the  place  of 


110 


OF  THE  SUBTLETY  OF  THE  SERPENT. 


that  image  of  God,  which  consisted  in  the  perfect 
reflection  in  the  soul  of  man  of  God’s  distinctions 
between  good  and  evil. 

After  what  manner  he  accomplished  this,  we  must 
now  inquire. 


* 


y 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


Ill 


CHAPTER  X. 

OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 

“  And  he  said  unto  the  woman,  Yea,  hath  God  said,  ye  shall  not  eat 
of  every  tree  of  the  garden  ?  And  the  woman  said  unto  the  ser¬ 
pent,  We  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  the  garden;  but  of 
the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  God  hath 
said,  ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die. 
And  the  serpent  said  to  the  woman,  Ye  shall  not  die  at  all.  For 
God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  that  ye  eat  thereof,  your  eyes  shall 
be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.  And 
when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  plea¬ 
sant  to  the  eye,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise,  she 
took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and  did  eat ;  and  gave  also  to  her  hus¬ 
band  with  her,  and  he  did  eat.” 

How  long  man  continued  in  the  estate  of  innocence, 
we  know  not.  But  sooner  or  later  a  change  passed 
upon  him,  most  sad  and  disastrous  for  all  who  are 
born  in  his  likeness.  Seduced  by  the  powerful  temp¬ 
tation  of  the  enemy  of  all  righteousness ,  he  rebelled 
against  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  and  set 
up  his  own  wisdom  in  its  place.  Thus  he  transgressed 
the  law  of  his  life,  and  plunged  himself  into  shame 
and  toil  and  sorrow  and  death.  We  must  now  tear 
ourselves  away  from  the  contemplation  of  his  blessed 
innocence,  and  behold  him  in  the  act  of  his  sin,  here 
recorded  and  described  that  it  may  be  known  what 


112 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


that  terrible  evil  is  which  has  invaded  and  ravaged 
the  life  of  humanity. 

In  order  the  better  to  understand  this  account,  we 
must  carefully  observe  that  the  words  of  the  serpent 
took  effect  in  the  woman,  and  excited  in  her  the  feel¬ 
ings  and  thoughts  which  they  describe.  This  is  evi¬ 
dent  from  the  fact  that  he  succeeded  in  the  tempta¬ 
tion.  By  his  subtle  power  he  spoke  *  his  words  into 
her,  so  that  they,  no  less  than  her  own  expressions, 
must  be  taken  as  truly  descriptive  of  that  which,  in 
the  substance  of  it,  passed  within  her  heart  and  mind. 

First  then  in  the  temptation  is  the  questioning  of 
the  command  of  God.  Yea,  hath  God  said,  ye  shall 
not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden  ?  This  suggestion 
of  the  tempter  entered  into  the  woman,  and  became 
questioning  in  her. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  bosom  sin  which 
was  perfected  and  manifested  in  act  when  they  ate 
of  the  fruit  of  the  forbidden  tree.  For  he  that,  before 
obeying,  has  once  questioned  a  command  of  God,  has 
already  sinned  against  it.  It  matters  nothing  in  re¬ 
spect  to  what  in  the  command  this  questioning  ap¬ 
plies.  It  may  have  slipped  from  the  memory  so 
as  to  leave  an  uncertainty  whether  it  has  ever  come 
from  God.  But  this  is  sin  ;  for,  in  that  the  command 
has  been  given  by  God,  it  is  the  thing  which  ought  to 

*  The  old  serpent  deceived  our  race  and  poisoned  its  root,  by  that 
well  chosen  temptation,  addressed  to  our  first  parents  “Ye  shall  be 
as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.”  He  seems  to  have  spoken  the 
word  into  their  very  souls,  so  that  it  became  a  part  of  their  being.— 
Erskine,  on  the  freeness  of  the  Gospel.  Essay  III. 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


113 


be  remembered,  as  having  come  from  him,  whatever 
else  may  be  forgotten.  Or  this  questioning  may  ap¬ 
ply  to  the  meaning  of  the  command,  arising  from 
doubt  whether  it  has  been  rightly  apprehended 
or  not ;  and  this  is  sin.  For  when  God  speaks, 
through  the  conscience  or  otherwise,  he  means  to  be 
so  understood  as  to  lead  to  immediate  obedience. 
Whoever  does  not  so  understand  him  must  either 
accuse  God  of  not  speaking  with  sufficient  plainness, 
or  himself  of  not  hearing  as  he  ought  to  hear.  In 
either  case  he  is  convicted  of  sin.  Or  it  may  apply 
to  the  reasons  of  the  command,  as  most  probably  it 
did  in  this  case,  since  it  was  immediately  followed  by 
the  outward  manifestation  of  distrust  of  God’s  good¬ 
ness  in  giving  such  an  injunction.  This  also  is  sin. 
Hath  God  said  we  shall  not  eat  of  this  tree  ?  And 
for  what  reason  has  he  forbidden  it  ?  For  what  rea¬ 
son  has  he  laid  upon  us  these  authoritative  prohibi¬ 
tions  ?  If  these  things  are  evil  for  us,  why  has  he  not 
shown  us  this  evil,  and  in  what  it  consists  ?  Why 
should  we  be  placed  under  this  authoritative  law  in 
respect  to  good  and  evil,  the  reasons  of  whose  dis¬ 
tinctions  are  veiled  in  impenetrable  mystery  ?  This 
kind  of  speculation  in  man,  to  determine  whether  he 
shall  obey  or  disobey,  is  sin.  It  is  nothing  less  than 
to  cite  the  Wisdom  of  God  to  the  bar  of  man’s  wis¬ 
dom,  and  to  require  it  to  give  an  account  of  itself. 
But  before  that  inferior  tribunal  it  cannot  give  a 
satisfactory  account  of  itself.  It  is  impossible  for 
man  to  give  to  his  own  rational  nature  a  logical  ac¬ 
count  of  the  reasons  upon  which  God’s  distinctions 


114 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


between  good  and  evil  are  based.  God  himself  can¬ 
not  make  man  comprehend  them,  unless  he  could 
make  him  to  know  the  difference  between  good  and 
evil  in  their  own  natures,  and  embrace  the  infinite 
series  of  the  effects  and  consequences  of  his  actions ; 
that  is  to  say,  unless  he  could  make  the  finite  to  be 
infinite.  The  light  of  the  creature  is  wholly  incapa¬ 
ble  of  receiving  such  a  revelation  as  this.  Man  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  reasons  and  purposes  of  God 
in  giving  his  commands.  He  has  nothing  to  do  but 
to  obey,  as  soon  as  the  Word  of  God  has  come  to 
him,  without  questioning  the  object  or  tendency  of 
the  command,  or  the  motives  or  reasons  with  which 
it  is  given,  but  in  the  unwavering  faith  that  it  is  the 
ordination  of  infinite  wisdom  and  love  ;  that  in  obey¬ 
ing,  it  shall  be  well  with  him  ;  he  shall  live  :  in  dis¬ 
obeying,  it  shall  not  be  well  with  him  ;  he  shall  surely 
die.  The  Word  of  God,  whensoever  and  howsoever 
it  appears  in  man,  speaks  with  authority,  and  not  as 
the  Scribes.  It  is  not  amenable  to  the  wisdom  of 
man,  but  man’s  wisdom  is  amenable  to  it.  It  can  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  unquestioning,  unhesi¬ 
tating,  implicit  obedience. 

The  reply  of  the  woman  to  this  suggestion  of  the 
tempter  describes  the  re-affirmation  of  the  command, 
as  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  revealed 
from  without,  and  affirmed  in  her  conscience.  God 
hath  said,  we  shall  not  eat  of  it  nor  touch  it  lest  we 
die.  This  is  all  that  can  be  said  about  it.  This  re¬ 
affirmation  of  itself  as  the  Wisdom  and  authority 
of  God,  marking  his  distinctions  between  good  and 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


115 


evil,  commanding  the  good  with  the  promise  of  life, 
forbidding  the  evil  upon  pain  of  death,  is  all  that  man 
can  obtain  from  his  Word,  all  that  he  can  obtain 
from  the  conscience,  so  far  as  it  is  truly  heard,  let 
him  question  it  as  much  and  as  urgently  as  he  will. 
The  attempt  to  legitimate  God’s  distinctions  between 
good  and  evil  in  the  eyes  of  man’s  inferior  wisdom 
must  for  ever  fail,  as  here  it  failed. 

For  when  the  woman  found  that  the  Wisdom  of 
God  would  render  no  account  of  itself  at  the  bar  of 
her  wisdom,  immediately  she  began  to  distrust  it ;  or 
rather,  that  distrust  which  was  contained  in  her  ques¬ 
tioning  of  it,  began  to  take  a  precise  form,  and  to 
manifest  itself  openly.  The  words  of  the  tempter 
entered  into  her,  and  reflected  the  thought  and  feel¬ 
ing  which  they  describe.  We  shall  not  die  at  all ; 
for  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  that  we  eat  thereof 
we  shall  become  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil. 
These  words,  it  is  to  be  observed,  are  a  manifest  proof 
that  she  was  not  ignorant  that  God  had  reserved  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  to  himself.  She  knew 
that  as  yet  she  could  not  discern  between  these  things 
by  her  own  light  and  wisdom.  God  had  given  her  to 
understand  that  it  was  impossible ;  that  it  would  be 
death  for  her  to  aspire  after  this  knowledge  which 
was  competent  to  him  alone.  This  was  all  false ; 
and  God  knew  it  to  be  false  when  he  had  said  so. 
For  here  was  a  tree  which,  as  God  knew  when  he 
prohibited  it,  had  the  power  to  open  her  eyes,  if  she 
should  eat  of  its  fruit,  so  that  she  also  could  know 
good  and  evil,  and  choose  between  them  aright  by 


116 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


her  own  wisdom  and  prudence.  It  would  enable  hei 
to  know  what  God  had  hidden  from  her,  and  falsely 
taught  her  that  he  only  could  know,  that  he  might 
hold  her  in  mental  bondage  and  blind  subserviency 
to  his  will,  under  a  law  and  guidance  which  would 
render  no  reasons  for  its  distinctions,  but  only  thun¬ 
dered  death  to  its  transgressors.  Faith  in  God,  the 
only  root  of  obedience,  had  been  plucked  up  out  of 
her  heart,  and  in  its  place  now  sprung  the  poisonous 
growth  of  unbelief.  The  light  of  faith,  in  which 
man  sees  all  things  through  the  wisdom  and  will  of 
God,  had  gone  out,  and  dark,  horrible,  godless  unbe¬ 
lief,  which  throws  him  back  upon  the  blind  guidance 
of  his  own  distinctions  between  good  and  evil,  had 
entered.  And  this  was  its  fruit.  She  accused  God 
in  her  heart  of  lying  to  her  with  malignant  intention. 
The  earth  shuddered ! 

Now  the  woman  raised  her  eyes  to  the  tree,  and 
lo  !  it  was  fair  to  the  eye,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  her, 
its  fruit  was  good  for  food.  Her  senses  of  sight  and 
taste  were  captivated ;  and  for  the  gratification  ol 
her  sensual  nature,  she  was  ready  to  reject  the  author¬ 
ity  of  the  Wisdom  of  God  over  her,  and  to  set  at 
naught  all  the  love  which  he  had  manifested.  But 
above  all,  this  tree  was  desirable  to  make  her  wise. 
In  what  sense  she  was  not  already  wise,  we  have 
seen.  She  could  not  know  the  difference  between 
what  was  good  and  what  evil  by  her  own  wisdom, 
the  light  of  her  sensual  nature,  while  she  had  a  per¬ 
fect  and  infallible  guide  and  criterion  of  distinction 
between  these  things  in  the  authoritative  Wisdom  of 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


117 


God,  the  light  of  her  spiritual  nature,  revealed  in  her 
conscience.  Thrown  back  now  upon  the  guidance 
of  this  prudential  and  calculating  wisdom,  having 
cast  off  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  inspired 
by  her  sensual  desires,  deluded  by  the  devil,  led  to 
believe  that  the  fruit  of  the  tree  would  open  her  eyes 
to  know  good  and  evil  for  herself,  she  would  trust 
herself  to  her  own  guidance  to  eat  of  this  tree. 
What  could  be  so  desirable  as  that  she  should  be  de¬ 
livered  from  this  authoritative  guide,  which  would 
render  no  account  of  the  reasons  of  its  distinctions, 
and  which  might  lead  her  to  choose  the  evil,  and  thus 
to  ruin  herself  before  she  could  be  aware  ?  What 
could  be  more  desirable  than  that  she  should  have, 
as  an  unerring  guide  of  life,  an  intelligent  and  inde¬ 
pendent  insight  into  the  distinction  between  good 
and  evil  ?  This  once  attained,  she  would  have  her 
well-being  taken  from  under  the  watch  and  care  of 
another,  and  secured  in  her  own  hands  for  ever. 
The  possibility  of  mistake  would  be  done  away. 
For  knowing  good  and  evil  in  herself,  she  would  be 
sure  to  choose  the  good  and  refuse  the  evil,  and  to 
guard  her  own  destiny  with  unerring  prudence. 
And,  how  blessed  would  it  be  to  have  an  indepen¬ 
dent  wisdom  and  will  and  choice  of  her  own  !  She 
would  be  elevated  to  know  that  which  she  had  so 
foolishly  thought  God  only  could  know.  She  would 
depend  upon  another  no  longer.  She  would  be  as 
God.  Henceforth  she  would  not  be  under  the  ne¬ 
cessity  of  walking  by  faith  in  another  ;  she  would 
walk  by  sight,  nor  yet  err  from  the  path  of  her 


118 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


own  well-being  and  happiness.  She  took  of  the 
tree  and  did  eat.  She  chose  what  seemed  good 
in  her  own  eyes,  instead  of  what  seemed  good  in 
the  eyes  of  God.  The  will  in  her  turned  its  face 
away  from  the  light  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  and 
consented  to  the  solicitations  of  her  earthly  and 

'  ^  n  *  r  V 

sensual  nature. 

The  sin  of  the  woman  was  immediately,  through 
her  agency,  reflected  in  the  man.  She  gave  also  to 
her  husband  with  her ,  and  he  did  eat.  In  the  New 
Testament  we  are  told  that  Adam  was  not  deceived , 
but  the  woman  being  deceived ,  was  in  the  transgres¬ 
sion.  This  seems  to  indicate  that  his  understanding 
was  not  imposed  upon  by  the  sophism  of  the  tempt¬ 
er  ;  that  he  did  not  act  upon  the  supposition  that  he 
was  already  able  to  choose  aright  between  good  and 
evil,  in  order  that  he  might  become  able  hereafter, 
nor  expect  any  such  result  from  eating  of  the  fruit, 
as  she  had  done  ;  but  that  he  rather  disobeyed  from 
a  greater  devotion  to  his  wife  than  to  God.  How¬ 
soever  this  feeling  arose  in  him,  it  was,  in  the  sub¬ 
stance  of  it,  the  same  sin  which  she  had  committed, 
and  led  to  the  same  outward  act.  For,  in  opposition 
to  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  she  had 
hearkened  to  the  appetites,  and  chosen  according  to 
the  light  of  the  sensual  nature.  By  this  nature  he 
was  united,  married  to  her.  He  received  her  sug¬ 
gestions  and  followed  her  guidance,  in  opposition  to 
the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God.  He  therefore 
followed  the  solicitations  of  the  earthly  nature  in 
him,  choosing  what  seemed  good  to  gratify  the 


9 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


119 


affections  of  this  nature,  according  to  its  light  and 
wisdom,  in  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the 
Wisdom  of  God,  as  she  had  done.  The  will  in  him 
also  turned  its  face  away  from  the  light  of  the  spi¬ 
ritual  nature  to  be  guided  by  the  earthly  and  carnal, 
as  it  had  done  in  her. 

Thus  their  sin  was  consummated  in  one  and  the 
same  act.  Thus  man  sinned  in  eating  of  the  for¬ 
bidden  tree.  His  sin  was  the  aspiration  to  be  as 
God,  knowing  good  and  evil. 

In  this  act,  and  in  the  state  of  heart  and  mind  by 
which  it  was  preceded,  and  from  which  it  sprung, 
he  ceased  to  believe  in  the  Wisdom  of  God  as  the 
only  guide  of  his  life.  He  ceased  to  believe  in  the 
sincerity,  goodness  and  love  of  God.  He  ceased  to 
love  God,  so  as  to  prefer  the  will  and  pleasure  of 
God  to  his  own.  He  ceased  to  recognise  himself  as 
but  a  reflection  of  God,  and  to  reflect  God’s  dis¬ 
tinctions  between  good  and  evil.  He  repudiated  the 
authority  of  God  over  him,  and  his  own  subjection 
and  dependence.  He  rebelled  against  God.  He 
charged  God  with  deceiving  him.  He  set  up  his 
own  wisdom,  the  light  of  his  sensual  nature,  as  the 
criterion  of  distinction  between  good  and  evil.  To 
the  bar  of  this  wisdom  which  was  created  to  be 
subject,  and  to  obey,  he  cited  the  Wisdom  of  God, 
and  required  it  to  give  account  of  itself.  Thus  he 
placed  himself  in  his  own  conceit,  not  only  beside, 
but  in  the  place  of  God.  He  said  in  substance,  if 
not  in  conscious  thought,  I  will  be  like  the  Most 
High .  And  this  he  did  in  violation  of  that  love  of 


120 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


God  for  him  which  was  stronger  and  more  tender 
and  faithful  than  that  of  father  and  mother  and  hus¬ 
band,  all  in  one.  He  carried  his  sin  to  its  greatest 
height  of  daring,  impiety,  and  malignity,  by  attack¬ 
ing,  violating,,  and  thus  destroying,  the  most  holy 
sacrament  and  symbol  of  the  truth  that  he  could  not 
know  good  and  evil  by  his  own  wisdom,  but  must 
be  implicitly  submissive  and  obedient  to  the  guid¬ 
ance  of  his  heavenly  Father,  which  had  been  set  up 
before  him  by  God5s  love  and  watchful  piovidence 
over  him,  to  guard  him  from  sin,  and  the  pei  dition 
of  sin.  He  sinned  as  the  beloved  disciple  would 
have  done,  if,  while  he  leaned  upon  the  bosom  of  the 
Son  of  God,  instead  of  receiving  the  offered  bread 
and  wine,  the  sacrament  and  symbol  of  the  only 
truth  by  which  it  was  possible  for  him  to  be  healed 
of  his  maladies,  he  had  dashed  them  from  the  hand 
of  his  Redeemer  and  Lord,  and  trampled  them  undei 

his  feet. 

Thus  the  will  in  man  turned  away  from  the  guid¬ 
ance  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  yielded  to  the  solicita¬ 
tions  of  the  earthly  nature,  and  chose  according  to  its 
light.  The  will  became  the  will  of  the  flesh  and  the 
mind  became  the  cclv'ticiI  mind,  in  that  evil  sense  m 
which  these  expressions  are  used  by  St.  Paul.  This 
mind  of  the  flesh  now  reigned  over  him,  and  became 
the  law  of  his  life,  his  criterion  of  distinction  between 
good  and  evil.  If  now,  by  the  insights  and  reason¬ 
ings  and  calculations  of  his  own  creature  wisdom,  by 
his  own  subtlety,  he  could  not  give  account  of  the 
grounds  and  reasons  upon  which  the  commands  and 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


121 


prohibitions  of  the  Wisdom  of  God  were  based,  he 
would  not  submit  to  them,  nor  obey  them,  but  would 
choose  what  seemed  good  to  himself,  rather  than 
what  seemed  good  in  the  eyes  of  God.  If  he  could 
not  see  how  a  thing  would  be  good  for  him,  and  what 
good  would  result  from  it,  he  would  not  choose  it, 
simply  because  it  was  marked  as  good  by  the  Wis¬ 
dom  of  God,  and  commanded  upon  his  authority,  with 
the  sanction,  This  do,  and  it  shall  be  well  with  thee ; 
thou  shalt  live.  If  he  could  not  see  how  a  thing 
would  be  evil  for  him,  and  what  evil  it  would  pro¬ 
duce,  he  would  not  reject  it  simply  because  it  was 
stigmatized  as  evil  by  the  Wisdom  of  God,  and  for¬ 
bidden  under  the  penalty,  Doing  this,  it  shall  not  be 
well  with  thee  ;  thou  shalt  surely  die.  But  because 
he  had  sinned  by  his  rebellion  against  the  authority 
of  the  Wisdom  and  love  of  God,  and  thus  depraved 
his  own  nature,  vitiated  and  corrupted  his  tastes  and 
inclinations,  that  which  would  now  seem  good  to 
him,  must  be  evil  in  the  eyes  of  the  Holy  One,  and 
evil  for  himself.  By  every  choice  which  he  should 
make  under  this  guidance  he  must  pierce  himself 
through  with  many  sorrows. 

Thus  of  necessity,  by  losing  faith  in  God,  man  sunk 
into  illusion — became  subject  to  vanity.  Looking  at 
all  things  through  that  wisdom  which  gives  all  its 
practical  judgments  from  the  earthly  point  of  view, 
according  to  the  appetites,  desires  and  affections  of 
the  earthly  nature,  he  beheld  only  the  visible  and 
perishable  things  of  time  and  sense,  as  things  substan¬ 
tial,  and  of  all  importance.  He  lost  the  perception 

6 


122 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


of  the  shadowy  and  unreal  nature  of  the  phenomena 
of  this  life.  The  things  which  are  unseen  yet  sub¬ 
stantial  and  eternal,  the  spiritual,  become  dim  and 
shadowy  and  uncertain  in  his  eyes.  He  was  bap¬ 
tized  with  a  lie — into  the  name  and  likeness  of  the 

father  of  lies. 

Thus  by  the  aspiration  in  man  to  be  as  God,  know¬ 
ing  good  and  evil,  the  authority,  the  guidance,  the 
love  and  the  life  of  God,  perished  out  of  his  heart. 
Thus  perished  simplicity,  innocence,  peace  and  joy, 
union  and  communion  with  God.  Thus  was  spiritual 
death  born  into  life. 

In  the  account  here  given  by  God  of  the  sin  ol 
man,  there  is  no  attempt  made  at  a  philosophical  ex¬ 
planation  of  the  matter.  It  does  not  profess  to  ex¬ 
plain  how  any  influence  could  have  power  to  lead, 
or  to  draw  Adam  into  transgression  of  that  law  of 
his  life  which  was  written  upon  his  heart,  and  in  his 
nature,  and  symbolized  in  the  most  expressive  man¬ 
ner  before  his  eyes.  How  a  holy  nature  can  pass 
out  of  its  original  holiness  into  sin,  is  a  mystery  in¬ 
scrutable  to  our  wisdom.  To  explain  it,  we  must  be 
able  to  grapple  with,  and  to  clear  up  the  long  \  exed 
question  of  the  origin  of  evil  in  the  universe.  To  do 
this,  we  must  be  able  to  comprehend  the  natui  e  and 
essence  of  evil,  as  opposed  to  good.  But  to  under¬ 
stand  the  nature  and  essence  of  evil,  we  must  pene¬ 
trate  into  the  nature  and  essence  of  good,  that  is  to 
say,  of  God,  Jehovah,  I  am  that  which  I  am.  This 
is  impossible  to  every  finite  intelligence.  Foi  e\eiy 
creature,  therefore,  that  God  has  made,  this  is  an 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


123 


eternally  insoluble  problem.  The  demonstration  of 
the  impossibility  of  the  quadrature  of  the  circle  is  no 
whit  more  perfect  than  that  which  may  be  given  of 
the  insolubility  of  the  question  of  the  origin  of  evil. 
The  only  difference  is  that,  by  the  aid  of  the  symbols 
employed  in  mathematical  reasoning,  the  logic  of  the 
one  case  is  more  easily  mastered  than  in  that  of  the 
other.  Happy  are  they  who  are  beset  with  the 
speculative  mind,  when  they  learn  this,  and  cease  to 

vex  a  question  by  which  they  must  be  eternally  baf¬ 
fled. 

But  here  is  portrayed  as  in  a  diagram,  in  a  symbol, 
what  that  is  in  which  the  sin  of  man  consists.  This 
symbol  describes  the  primary  form  of  all  sin,  in 
which  sin  is  found  as  soon  as  it  exists  at  all.  Sin  is 
the  aspiration  to  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil. 
This  expression  however,  is  not  limited  here  to  sig¬ 
nify  a  conscious  affection  and  a  defined  process  of 
thought,  and  a  preference  in  act  of  man’s  own  will 
befoie  the  will  of  God.  For  the  effect  of  Adam’s 
first  sin  entered  into  himself,  and  depraved  his  own 
nature,  into  the  likeness  of  the  sin  which  he  had  com¬ 
mitted,  which  was  the  aspiration  to  be  as  God,  know¬ 
ing  good  and  evil.  His  children  were  born  in  his 
evil  likeness,  after  his  sin,  and  not  before.  Therefore 
they  are  born  with  a  nature  out  of  which  springs  the 
preference  of  their  own  wills,  or  of  what  seems 
good  to  themselves,  before  what  seems  good  in  the 
eyes  of  God,  as  necessarily  as  the  poison  springs 
under  the  tongue  of  the  viper.  This  expression,  the 
aspiration  to  he  as  God  knowing  good  and  evil ,  is 


124 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


here  used  to  describe  that  corruption  of  the  most  in¬ 
ward  and  spiritual  nature  of  man,  which  is  behind  all 
his  affections,  all  his  thoughts,  and  all  his  actions,  and 
from  which  they  all  spring.  And  this  corruption  of 
his  nature,  derived  from  his  first  sin,  consists  in  this 
very  thing,  and  in  nothing  else,  that  his  nature  contains 
in  itself  the  substance  and  root  and  principle  of  that 
which  in  form,  in  growth,  in  development,  becomes 
in  conscious  affection,  in  defined  process  of  thought, 
the  active  preference  of  what  seems  good  to  himself 
before  that  which  seems  good  in  the  eyes  of  God. 
But  this  is  to  feel  and  act  and  live  in  the  character  of 
a  god,  in  the  assumption  that  he  can  know  the  dif¬ 
ference  between  good  and  evil,  of  himself,  and  by 
his  own  wisdom. 

Without  this,  in  the  substance  of  it,  there  can  be 
no  sin.  The  expression  of  immaculate  perfection  in 
man  is,  Not  my  will ,  but  thine  be  done ,  or  in  other 
words,  not  what  seems  good  to  me,  but  what  seems 
good  to  thee,  O  Father.  Higher  than  this  in  holiness 
the  creature  cannot  rise ;  as  he  cannot  sink  lower  in 
sin,  than  to  prefer  his  own  will  to  the  will  of  God. 

Because  this  is  the  evil  that  is  in  man,  when  the 
Word  and  Wisdom  of  God  is  manifested  in  the  flesh, 
to  take  away  sin,  he  comes  as  the  object  of  faith. 
This  preference  in  man  of  what  seems  good  to  him¬ 
self  before  what  seems  good  to  God,  is  the  want  of 
faith  in  God :  hence,  all  sin  is  reduced  in  the  New 
Testament  to  unbelief.  What  shall  we  do  that  we 
may  work  the  works  of  God  ?  This  is  the  work  of 
God ,  that  ye  believe  on  him,  whom,  God  hath  sent. 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


125 


The  faith  of  the  gospel  is  the  renunciation  from  the 
heart  of  man’s  own  wisdom  and  will  and  pleasure, 
of  what  seems  good  in  his  own  eyes,  and  the  adop¬ 
tion  into  their  place  of  the  Wisdom  and  will  and 
pleasure  of  God,  of  what  seems  good  in  his  eyes. 
In  Jesus  of  Nazareth  dwelt  all  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily.  He  who  truly  believes  in  him,  re¬ 
ceives  him  as  the  supreme  Lord  of  man’s  heart  and 
conscience.  By  his  faith  or  confidence  in  him,  man 
is  perfectly  sure  that  what  he  has  declared  is  the 
truth ;  that  what  he  has  commanded  are  the  good 
things  ;  and  what  he  has  forbidden  the  evil  things. 
He  no  longer  judges  according  to  the  appearance  ; 
that  is  to  say,  he  does  not  believe  that  things  are  as 
they  might  appear  to  himself,  but  he  believes  they 
are  as  they  are  represented  by  Christ.  By  believing 
in  him  he  recognises  the  truth  that  his  own  wisdom 
is  folly  ;  and  becomes  truly  wise  by  receiving  the 
wisdom  of  God  in  its  place.  That  is  in  him  which 
is  commanded  in  the  words,  If  any  man  thinketh  him¬ 
self  to  he  wise ,  let  him  become  a  fool  that  he  may  he 
wise.  This  he  does  more  or  less  perfectly  according 
to  the  measure  of  his  faith.  When  his  faith  is  per¬ 
fected,  that  is  true  of  him  which  is  declared  by  the 
prophet,  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  of  the  man  Christ 
Jesus  :  Who  is  blind  as  my  servant  ?  or  deaf  as  my 
messenger  that  I  sent  ?  Who  is  blind  as  he  that  is 
perfect;  and  blind  as  Jehovah's  servant?  .  .  .  He 
shall  not  judge  after  the  sight  of  his  own  eyes ,  nor 
reprove  after  the  hearing  of  his  own  ears. 

This  is  the  original  sin  of  man.  The  human  race 


126 


OP  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


have  but  carried  out  and  developed  that  which  was 
begun  by  the  father  and  head  and  type  of  man. 
The  aspiration  to  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil 
is  the  evil,  which  has  destroyed  the  well-being  of 
humanity.  This  is  what  is  the  matter  with  man : 
and  this  shall  continue  to  be  the  matter  with  him, 
until  he  shall  be  made  to  know  that  he  is  not  a  God, 
but  a  blind  worm ;  that  he  cannot  know  good  and 
evil  by  his  own  wisdom,  but  must  be,  in  every  feel¬ 
ing,  choice  and  act,  dependent  upon,  and  implicitly 
subject  to,  the  Word  and  Wisdom  of  God.  When 
he  shall  come  to  look  at  all  things,  so  to  speak, 
through  the  eyes  of  Christ,  to  prefer  what  seems 
good  to  God,  before  what  seems  good  in  his  own 
eyes,  then,  and  not  before,  shall  he  find  the  eternal 
well-being  of  his  soul. 

We  must  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  inquiry, 
after  what  manner  this  evil  likeness  of  Adam  in 
which  his  posterity  are  born,  is  developed  into  life, 
strength  and  activity. 

Much  has  been  written  upon  the  connection  be¬ 
tween  Adam  and  his  posterity,  to  vindicate  the 
justice  of  God  in  that,  under  his  government  and 
providence,  they  are  found  to  be  involved  in  the  oii- 
ginal  sin,  and  its  terrible  consequences.  Perhaps 
however,  the  most  important  thing  for  us  to  do,  is 
not  to  prove  that  God  is  just,  nor  to 

“  Justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man 

but  to  take  knowledge  of  the  fact,  which  is  therefore 
stated  because  it  is  the  thing  to  be  known,  that  the 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


127 


children  of  Adam  were  born  in  his  likeness  after  he 
had  sinned,  and  lost  his  spiritual  life.  To  this  point 
St.  Paul  confines  himself,  without  any  attempt  to 
show,  that  the  view  which  he  takes  does  not  com- 
promit  the  justice  of  God.  He  knew  that  man 
cannot  scrutinize  God ;  that  what  God  does  is  the 
standard  of  justice,  by  which  all  our  ideas  of  it  are 
to  be  tried  and  corrected,  but  which  cannot  be 
brought  to  the  bar  of  any  judging  power  in  us. 

It  would  seem,  however,  to  us  exceedingly  strange 
if  we  should  hear  that  a  bloodthirsty  lioness  had 
brought  forth  a  gentle  and  timid  lamb ;  that  a  dove 
had  been  hatched  from  an  eagle’s  egg.  No  less 
wonderful  would  it  seem  if  the  children  of  Adam 
had  not  been  born  in  his  likeness.  It  is  not  therefore 
wonderful  that  they  do  inherit  from  him  something 
which  is  the  ground  and  principle  of  the  invariable 
course  of  their  lives ;  which  naturally  grows  with 
their  growth,  and  strengthens  with  their  strength ; 
which  is  in  its  own  nature  evil,  and  corrupt  and  ac¬ 
cursed,  as  that  in  him  of  which  it  is  the  likeness, 
was  evil,  corrupt  and  accursed. 

As  we  have  seen,  however,  there  is  in  the  earliest 
infancy  of  the  child  a  most  striking  and  beautiful 
similitude  of  innocence.  The  Adam  in  him  is  yet  in 
abeyance.  He  knows  not  that  there  is  any  God, 
nor  any  right  and  wrong.  He  hangs  with  implicit 
faith  and  dependence  upon  his  parents.  For  awhile 
his  own  choice  and  will  are  so  weak  that  he  feels 
himself  to  be  wholly  dependent.  He  has  not  yet 
undertaken  to  discern  between  good  and  evil  by  his 


128 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


own  light  and  wisdom.  He  has  not  yet  voluntaiily, 
and  by  his  own  act,  eaten  of  the  tree  of  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  good  and  evil.  Death  is  in  him,  it  is  true, 
by  reason  of  the  inherited  evil,  but  it  has  not  y  ©t 
been  awakened  into  life  and  strength  and  activity  by 
occasion  of  the  exercise  of  authority  over  him. 
The  commandment  has  not  yet  come  to  him ;  there¬ 
fore  the  work  of  death  is  not  finished  in  him.  He  is 
one  of  those  over  whom  death  reigns,  although  he 
has  not  yet  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam  s 
transgression ,  by  rebellion  against  a  known  law. 
He  is  one  of  those  described  by  the  words  of  St. 
Paul,  I  was  alive  once  without  the  law.  When  the 
commandment  came  sin  revived  and  I  died.  But 
when  the  commandment  shall  come  to  him,  the  sin 
that  is  in  him  shall  awaken  into  life,  and  finish  its 
work  of  death.  But  now  in  the  most  chaiming 
similitude  of  innocence,  free  from  shame,,  toil  and 
sorrow,  he  dwells  in  his  garden  of  paiadise.  His 
food  stands  ready  prepared  to  his  hand  by  the  wis¬ 
dom  and  providence  and  love  of  his  parents.  The 
world  of  nature  blooms  out  to  his  opening  sense, 
with  surpassing  beauty  and  charm.  Every  sense  is 
filled  and  delighted.  And  even  after  the  evil  has 
manifestly  begun  to  work,  it  is  long  before  it  can 
wholly  deface  and  destroy  the  simplicity  and  beauty 
of  infancy.  Blessed  be  childhood !  It  is  a  holy 
symbol. 

But  the  child  has  that  within  him  which  soon, 
alas !  begins  to  manifest  itself  as  a  wisdom  and 
choice  and  will  of  his  own.  He  begins  in  his  mind 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


129 


to  question  the  wisdom  of  his  parents  as  the  law  of 
his  choice  between  good  and  evil ;  and  to  prefer  his 
own  will  to  theirs.  Unconsciously  first,  and  con¬ 
sciously  afterwards,  his  questionings  arise.  Is  not 
this  food,  this  amusement,  as  good  as  that,  and  as 
much  to  be  desired  to  give  him  pleasure  ?  Why 
then  should  the  one  be  allowed,  and  the  other  for¬ 
bidden  ?  As  soon  as  he  thinks  about  the  matter  at 
all,  it  seems  to  him,  because  he  cannot  know  what 
his  parents  know  of  good  and  evil,  that  their  dis¬ 
tinctions  between  these  things,  as  expressed  in  their 
directions  and  commands,  are  not  based  upon  good 
and  sufficient  reasons.  For,  because  he  cannot  see 
so  far  as  they  do,  nor  comprehend  the  consequences 
of  his  acts  to  himself  so  well  as  they  can,  he  cannot 
feel  the  force  of  their  reasons,  even  though  they 
should  explain  the  matter  to  him  as  fully  as  it  is 
possible  to  do.  He  has  now  questioned  the  wisdom 
of  the  authority  of  his  parents  over  him,  where  he 
ought  simply  to  have  obeyed,  and  has  therefore 
sinned  against  it. 

Here  the  parent  ought  simply,  kindly  and  deliber¬ 
ately  to  reaffirm  the  command  with  the  penalty  of 
disobedience  ;  but  by  no  means  to  attempt  any  ex¬ 
planation  of  the  reasons  upon  which  that  command 
is  based.  The  Wisdom  of  God  could  give  no  ex¬ 
planation  of  its  reasons  to  man  when  he  questioned 
it.  God  hath  said  that  in  the  day  that  ye  eat  thereof 
ye  shall  surely  die.  If  this  course  be  taken  with  the 
child,  and  yet  his  native  tendencies  be  left  to  de- 
velope  themselves,  it  seems  to  him  a  harsh  thing  that 

6* 


130 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


he  should  be  held  under  an  authority  so  seeming  y 
arbitrary  that  it  will  not  condescend  to  justify  itself 
in  his  eyes.  Now  he  is  ready  to  distrust  the  good¬ 
ness  and  love  of  his  parents  towards  him,  in  exerting 
such  an  authority.  It  seems  to  him  as  if  they  could 
not  be  moved  wholly  by  feelings  of  kindness  when 
they  command  him  to  do,  or  not  to  do,  things  in  ie 
spect  to  which  he  can  see  no  good  reason  for  such  a 
distinction.  He  is  now  ready  to  impute  to  them  the 
most  unworthy  motives  and  feelings.  They  love  to 
govern  him ;  or  they  take  a  pleasure  in  making  him 
do  what  he  does  not  desire  to  do.  They  do  not  con¬ 
sult  his  pleasure,  nor,  as  far  as  he  can  see,  his  well¬ 
being.  Is  not  this  thing  innocent  '?  He  can  see  no 
harm  in  it.  Is  it  not  good  to  give  him  pleasure  ? 
What  good  motive  can  they  have  for  depriving  him 
of  so  much  happiness  ?  Surely  they  do  not  care  foi 
his  happiness  or  they  would  not  foibid  him  these 
things.  Thus  it  was  that  the  woman  lost  her  con¬ 
fidence  in  the  good  intentions  of  God,  the  loss  of 
which  is  expressed  in  the  words,  God  doth  know  that 
in  the  day  that  ye  eat  thereof  ye  shall  he  as  gods , 

knowing  good  and  evil . 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  these  thoughts  and 
feelings  are  too  refined  and  subtle  for  a  child.  For 
although  they  may  not  come  out  into  full  conscious¬ 
ness,  nor  be  followed  step  by  step  as  here  presented, 
yet  the  substance  of  all  this  must  be  in  the  child 
before  he  can  proceed  to  an  outward  act  of  disobe¬ 
dience.  Often  the  whole  of  it  takes  place  without 
consciousness,  suddenly  as  the  lightning’s  flash. 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


131 


Now,  the  desires,  appetites,  and  passions  of  the 
earthly  nature  in  the  child  are  full  and  strong  before 
there  is  anything  in  force  to  counteract  them.  He 
feels  the  powerful  solicitations  of  sense  before  he  has 
any  knowledge  of  spiritual  things.  Now  it  is  that 
the  wisdom  and  authority  of  his  parents  to  choose 
for  him,  stands  in  the  place  of  the  Wisdom  of  God, 
hereafter  to  be  revealed  from  without  and  affirmed 
within  him.  His  subjection  to  his  parents  is  to  pre¬ 
pare  him  for  subjection  to  God,  when  he  shall  come 
to  know  that  there  is  a  God  who  has  authority  over 
him.  If  he  be  not  restrained  by  them,  he  must 
choose  amiss,  according  to  his  own  wisdom  rather 
than  according  to  theirs.  His  rebellion  must  go  into 
outward  act,  and  he  must  pierce  himself  through  with 
deadly  sorrows.  Thus  he  is  already  prepared  for 
rebellion  against  God,  as  soon  as  his  commandment 
shall  be  made  known. 

This  is  the  terrible  significancy  of  disobedience  to 
parents.  For  this  reason  it  is  placed  side  by  side 
in  the  Word  of  God  with  murder,  and  the  most 
malignant  forms  of  sin.  It  is  rebellion  against  God 
in  germ.  It  is  atheism  in  its  first  stage  of  develop¬ 
ment.  It  is  the  first  movement  of  the  sin  of  Adam. 
It  is  the  erecting  of  the  child’s  own  wisdom,  as  a 
guide  of  choice  between  good  and  evil,  into  that 
place  which  ought  now  to  be  filled  with  the  wisdom 
and  authority  of  the  parents,  and  which  is  hereafter 
to  be  filled  with  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God. 
In  it  the  child  has  already  begun  to  sin  after  the  simi - 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


litude  of  Adam's  transgression,  before  he  knows  that 
there  is  any  God  against  whom  he  can  sm. 

Long  before  this  has  ended  however,  a  new  law 
has  made  its  appearance.  This  is  the  law  of  God, 
as  given  in  his  Word,  and  which  reaches  the  soul 
through  the  conscience.  This  law,  which  in  its 
nature  and  authority  is  intended  to  be  prefigured  and 
ushered  in  by  the  parental  law,  now  comes  to  the 
child  commanding  this,  and  forbidding  that,  with  the 
voice  of  absolute  authority,  without  any  explanation 
of  the  grounds  and  reasons  upon  which  its  distinc¬ 
tions  are  based,  because  these  reasons  man  cannot 
comprehend  nor  feel  their  iorce,  it  they  should  be 
stated.  This  do  and  tlwu  shall  live ;  disobey,  and 
thou  shalt  surely  die.  Whence  is  this  new  law,  and 
whence  this  absolute  authority  over  him  who  has 
already  cast  off  law,  and  rebelled  against  authority  ? 
He  does  not  believe  in  the  law  of  God  as  the  law  of 
wisdom  for  him.  He  has  no  faith  that  the  things 
which  it  commands  are  the  good  things  for  him  ; 
nor  that  what  it  forbids  is  evil  foi  him,  in  its  own 
nature  ^  because  he  cannot  know  the  essential  diffei- 
ence  between  good  and  evil,  nor  comprehend  the 
everlasting  consequences  of  his  actions  upon  himself. 
It  seems  to  him  all  arbitrary,  without  sufficient  rea¬ 
son.  He  is  already  in  the  preference  of  his  own 
wisdom  and  will  in  the  choice  between  good  and  evil. 
That  in  him  which  has  already  asserted  for  itself 
independence  of  the  wisdom  and  authority  of  his 
parents,  now  asserts  for  itself  independence  of  the 
Wisdom  and  authority  of  God.  Neither  shall  he  die 


OF  TI1E  SIN  OF  MAN. 


133 


at  all.  He  will  choose  by  his  own  wisdom.  He 
will  know  good  and  evil  for  himself ;  that  which 
God  only  can  know  and  mark  aright.  He  will  be  as 
God  in  this  thing.  Ye  shall  he  as  gods  knowing 
good  and  evil.  The  same  thing  has  now  taken  place 
in  respect  to  God  and  his  law,  which  he  has  been 
passing  through  before  in  respect  to  his  parents  and 
their  law,  only  after  a  more  spiritual  and  deadly 
manner.  Consciously  or  unconsciously,  in  spirit  if 
not  in  thought,  in  substance  if  not  in  the  form  here 
described,  all  this  must  precede,  or  lie  at  the  bottom 
of  every  outward  act  of  transgression  of  the  law  of 
God,  after  it  is  made  known. 

Still  more  spiritual  and  deadly  does  all  this  become 
when  the  profound  spirituality  of  the  law  of  God  is 
revealed  to  him,  who  has  now  become  a  youth  or  a 
man,  as  it  was  made  known  to  Paul.  When  he 
learns  that  this  law  not  only  forbids  outward  acts  ; 
but  extends  also  to  the  appetites,  desires  and  affec¬ 
tions  ;  to  the  secret  thoughts  of  his  mind ;  to  the  dis¬ 
positions  and  states  of  his  spiritual  nature,  forbidding 
what  he  has  long  felt,  and  now  loves  to  feel,  to  which 
he  is  now  in  bondage,  under  the  most  horrid  penal¬ 
ties,  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched,  and  the  woj'm  that 
never  dies ,  eternal  death — then  it  seems  to  him  that 
God  deals  with  him  in  the  most  arbitrary,  tyrannical 
and  cruel  manner.  To  his  view  God  is  a  pitiless  and 
ferocious  monster.  What  !  has  he  given  me  these 
desires,  and  will  he  damn  me  because  they  burn  ? 
Has  he  given  me  reason,  and  forbidden  me  to  use  it  ? 
He  has  forbidden  thoughts  and  feelings  over  which  I 


134 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


have  no  control.  He  tells  me  to  have  faith  and  love 
towards  him  ;  and  is  faith  and  love  in  my  own  powei  ? 
The  carnal  mind  which  is  enmity  against  God ,  now 
works  within  him.  He  hates  God  with  a  peilect 
hatred.  He  would  dethrone  God  if  he  could.  The 
commandment  has  come  to  him,  sin  has  revived  and 
he  has  died  the  death  in  trespasses  and  in  sins. 

This  is  the  natural  development  of  that  which  is  in 
man  by  birth — the  likeness  of  Adam.  The  faith  ol 
Christ,  working  upon  the  parents,  and  through  them 
upon  their  children,  does  indeed  often  restrain  this 
depraved  nature  from  running  out  into  the  excess 
here  described.  To  many,  even  in  Christian  lands, 
the  law  of  God  never  comes  with  such  revelation  of 
its  spirituality  and  power  as  to  call  into  conscious 
activity  this  terrible  hatred  against  God,  its  author. 
The  heathen  also,  are  almost  entirely  without  this 
law,  except  so  far  as  an  uncertain  echo  of  it  may  be 
heard  in  their  consciences.  But  the  principle  of  all 
this,  waiting  only  the  occasion  of  development,  that 
is  to  say,  the  coming  of  the  law,  is  born  with  every 
child  of  Adam.  Therefore  death  reigns  even  over 
those  who  knew  not  the  law  of  God,  and  have  not 
sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression. 

The  development  of  this  evil  likeness  of  Adam,  in 
thousands  of  cases,  is  facilitated  and  hastened,  lathei 
than  restrained,  by  the  treatment  which  children  re¬ 
ceive  from  their  parents,  who  have  inherited  the 
same  evil,  and  in  whom  it  has  been  developed  and 
perfected  by  the  bringing-up  which  they  have  re¬ 
ceived.  For  while  the  physical  necessities  of  the 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


135 


child  cause  him  to  hang  upon  his  parents  in  conscious 
dependence  for  everything,  it  is  intended  that  he 
should  be  imbreathed  with  their  love.  As  his  facul¬ 
ties  open,  he  is  to  be  filled  with  faith  in  their  wisdom, 
and  with  reverence  for  their  authority.  By  every 
possible  means  he  should  be  imbued  with  the  convic¬ 
tion  and  feeling,  that  his  own  wisdom  is  a  guide 
wholly  inadequate  to  lead  him  aright ;  that  following 
it  he  must  choose  amiss,  and  destroy  himself ;  that  he 
must  be  for  ever  implicitly  submissive  to  a  voice  and 
an  authority  above  him,  the  reasons  of  whose  com¬ 
mands  he  can  never  comprehend,  whose  wisdom  and 
love  he  is  never  once  to  question,  but  to  obey  ;  and 
that  thus  only  it  can  be  well  with  him  ;  he  shall  live. 
He  is  to  be  trained  in  the  obedience  of  faith  and  love 
and  reverence,  not  in  that  of  sight  and  reasoning. 
The  highest  reason  that  can  be  given  for  his  doing  any¬ 
thing,  is  that  his  parents,  in  their  superior  wisdom,  in 
the  fulness  of  their  love,  and  in  the  plenitude  of  their 
authority,  have  commanded  it.  No  other  reason 
should  ever  be  given  but  that  which  is  implied  in  the 
command  itself.  The  fewest  possible  injunctions  and 
restraints  should  be  laid  upon  the  child.  He  should 
have  the  free  range  of  his  garden  of  Paradise.  Every 
command  of  parental  authority  should  be  given  in 
the  fewest  and  simplest  words,  with  the  gentlest 
voice  and  manner,  and  for  every  transgression  of  a 
positive  command,  and  perhaps  for  nothing  else,  the 
chastisement  of  the  rod  should  be  administered  with 
all  tenderness,  but  with  unswerving  fidelity.  He  that 
spareth  his  rod  hateth  his  son ;  but  he  that  loveth 


13G 


OP  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


him  chasteneth  him  betimes.  This  is  the  Wisdom  oi 
God.  And  woe  to  the  age  which  has  found  out  a 
better  wisdom  for  itself  than  his  !  The  whole  object 
of  the  authority  and  government  of  parents,  is  that  it 
may  exactly  prefigure,  and  usher  in,  that  law  of  God 
which  springs  from  infinite  love  and  incomprehensi¬ 
ble  wisdom.  Whatever  else  it  may  effect,  it  is  an 
utter  failure  where  it  fails  to  accomplish  this. 

Instead  of  making  this  the  object  of  his  treatment 
of  the  child,  the  parent  forsooth  must  appeal  to  his 
understanding  and  persuade  him  to  do  thus  and  so. 
He  undertakes  to  argue  with  the  child,  and  to  show 
him  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  what  he  is  requested 
to  do ;  that  he  may  see  it  is  good  to  be  done,  and 
choose  it  of  his  own  desire.  Here  he  appeals  to  a 
wholly  incompetent  authority.  For  such  an  appeal 
assumes  that,  if  the  matter  be  fully  and  properly  ex¬ 
plained,  the  child  is  capable  of  knowing,  and  choosing 
aright  between  good  and  evil.  But  this  is  not  so. 
He  is  without  the  experience  through  which  the 
parent  has  passed,  and  by  which  he  has  learned  all 
that  he  knows  of  good  and  evil.  It  is  therefore  im¬ 
possible  for  the  child  to  feel  the  force  of  reasons 
which  are  based  upon  an  experience  which  he  has 
not.  He  is  not  capable  of  foreseeing  those  conse¬ 
quences  of  his  actions  which  his  parent  foresees. 
Hence  when  the  appeal  is  made  to  the  child’s  own 
judgment  and  discrimination  to  sanction  the  command 
of  his  parent,  that  judgment,  if  it  be  honest,  must  go 
against  the  choice  which  he  is  expected  and  required 
to  make,  and  in  favor  of  his  own  desire,  according 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


137 


to  what  seems  good  to  himself.  Now  the  parent  is 
reduced  to  the  necessity,  either  of  allowing  the  child 
to  take  his  own  way,  or  of  flying  from  the  decision 
of  that  judge  to  which  himself  has  appealed.  In 
either  case  faith  in  the  wisdom  of  the  parent  is  de¬ 
stroyed  out  of  the  child.  Often  the  parent  is  amazed 
at  what  seems  to  him  the  perverseness  or  stupidity 
ol  the  child,  because,  after  the  matter  has  been  all 
explained,  still  he  is  not  at  all  convinced,  but  desires 
to  do  what  has  been  forbidden  as  much  as  before. 
He  does  not  know,  he  will  not  consider,  that  it  is  im¬ 
possible  for  the  child  to  feel  the  force  of  ' his  reasons, 
because  he  is  without  his  experience  upon  which 
those  reasons  are  based. 

The  stupidity  is  in  the  parent.  Woe  to  him,  and 
to  his  children,  and  his  children’s  children,  to  the 
third  and  fourth  generations,  that  it  is!  By  thus 
appealing  to  the  child’s  own  insight  and  reasoning  to 
sanction  his  commands,  he  does  all  in  his  power  to 
erect  the  child’s  own  wisdom  into  a  guide  and  law  of 
distinction  between  good  and  evil.  He  tells  him  in 
substance  that  he  is  able  to  discern  what  is  good  for 
him  and  what  evil,  if  he  will  only  think  about  it  and 
consider.  Every  attempt  to  reason  with  the  child 
and  to  persuade  him  by  considerations  of  the  mind, 
to  choose  this  and  reject  that,  instead  of  guiding  him 
by  the  authority  of  superior  wisdom,  is  as  much  as 
to  assure  him  that  he  is  not  incapable  of  knowing 
good  and  evil.  It  is  precisely  the  temptation  of  the 
serpent.  rI  hus  the  father  becomes  to  his  own  child  the 
professed  teacher  of  Adam’s  sin,  which  is  the  root  and 


138 


'  OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


substance  of  all  sin,  the  cause  of  all  practical  mistakes, 
the  fountain  of  all  the  evils  that  are  in  the  world.  In¬ 
stead  of  forbidding  to  him  the  knowledge  ol  good  and 
evil ;  instead  of  seeking  to  fill  him  with  the  conviction 
that  he  cannot  discern  between  these  things  by  his  own 
wisdom,  in  thus  attempting  to  reason  him  into  obedi¬ 
ence,  the  father  leads  his  child  to  the  fatal  tree ;  shows 
him  its  fruit,  so  fair  to  the  eye,  and  good  for  food,  so  de¬ 
sirable  to  make  him  wise ;  assures  him  that  he  shall  not 
die  at  all ;  invites  him  to  pluck  and  eat  that  which  con¬ 
tains  the  germ  of  inevitable  death  to  his  soul;  which 
expels  him  from  his  beautiful  paradise  of  simplicity, 
love  and  happiness,  and  sends  him  forth,  under  the 
guidance  of  his  own  wisdom,  under  the  dominion  of 
the  carnal  mind ,  into  a  thorny  world,  without  laith, 
without  hope,  and  without  God.  Alas!  for  the  child! 
He  is  trained  to  regard  his  own  wisdom  as  the  law 
to  which  appeal  is  to  be  made  in  his  choice  between 
good  and  evil ;  and  when  the  law  of  God  comes,  that 
Voice  of  divine  authority,  which  cannot  give  its 
reasons  for  its  instructions,  it  finds  him  already  in 
rebellion  against  it.  Alas  !  for  the  child.  Through 
his  parent’s  sin  and  folly,  he  has  sinned  and  fallen 
before  he  knows  that  there  is  any  right  or  wrong,  any 
God,  any  life  to  come. 

This  is  now  become  a  system  of  education  and 
training  for  children — the  system  of  moral  suasion . 
It  is  based  wholly  upon  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent. 
Its  fruit  is  death.  If  it  be  not  checked  it  will  pro¬ 
duce  a  luxuriance  and  bloom  of  infidelity,  and  ungod¬ 
liness,  such  as  the  earth  never  beheld.  The  state  of 


OF  THE  SIN  OF  MAN. 


139 


society  will  become  so  lawless  that  it  cannot  be  borne. 
Well  might  the  Word  and  Wisdom  of  God  exclaim 
in  view  of  all  this  (for  it  was  in  view  of  the  offences 
which  children  would  receive  that  the  words  were 
uttered),  Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offences! 
For  thus  is  lost  even  the  similitude  of  innocence  ;  thus 
is  blasted  the  paradise  of  childhood. 

The  memory  of  Paradise  is  not  more  clear  in  the 
traditions  of  early  ages  than  is  the  consciousness  of 
the  nature  of  the  sin  by  which  it  was  lost.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  the  account  of  the  Greeks,*  man’s  first  sin,  was 
the  attempt  to  ascend  to  heaven  to  steal  the  fire  and 
the  light  (the  wisdom)  of  the  gods.  To  punish  him 
a  woman  was  created,  and  endowed  with  every  hu¬ 
man  perfection.  Venus  gave  her  beauty,  with  irre¬ 
sistible  attraction  and  charm,  and  filled  her  heart 
with  the  desire  of  pleasing.  The  god  of  eloquence 
touched  her  lips  with  persuasion.  Apollo  taught  her 
music.  Minerva  instructed  her  in  all  other  beautiful 
and  useful  arts.  The  Hours  and  the  Graces  decked 
her  with  every  winning  ornament.  Each  of  the 
other  deities  conferred  upon  her  some  excellent  and 
precious  gift.  Last  of  all  Jupiter  placed  in  her  hand 
a  mystical  casket,  and  warned  her  under  the  most 
terrible  penalties,  never  to  break  its  seal.  But  over¬ 
swayed  in  an  evil  hour  by  the  desire  of  forbidden 
knowledge,  she  opened  the  fatal  casket.  When  lo  ! 
forth  flew  from  within  it  the  hosts  of  diseases,  cares 
and  sorrows  which  have  invaded  the  human  race. 


*  Hesiod.  Theog:  521.  Opera  et  Dies,  47. 


140 


OF  THE  BIN  OF  MAN. 


She  tried  to  close  it  again  ;  but  it  was  too  late.  Hope 
alone  remained  in  the  bottom.  This  she  carefully 
preserved  and  handed  down  to  her  posterity,  now  all 
she  had  to  leave  them. 

Dimmed  and  obscured  it  is ;  yet  it  reflects,  with 
no  uncertain  light,  the  nature  of  the  original  sin.  It 
is  a  far  off  echo  of  the  mournful  truth,  sounding 
across  the  abysm  of  ages  of  sin  and  toil  and  sonow 
and  death,  not  without  hope ;  tender  and  touching 
as  the  wail  of  the  bereaved  mother  over  her  dead 
child,  in  the  hope  that,  though  it  be  dead  it  shall  live 

again. 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


141 


CHAPTER  XI. 

OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 

“  And  the  eyes  of  them  both  were  opened,  and  they  knew  that  they 
were  naked,  and  they  sewed  fig  leaves  together  and  made  them¬ 
selves  aprons.” 

“  And  they  heard  the  Voice  of  Jehovah  God  walking  in  the  garden, 
in  the  cool  of  the  day  :  and  Adam  and  his  wife  hid  themselves 
from  the  presence  of  Jehovah  God  in  the  midst  of  the  trees 
of  the  garden.  And  Jehovah  God  called  unto  Adam,  and 
said,  Where  art  thou  ?  And  he  said,  I  heard  thy  Voice  in  the 
garden,  and  I  was  afraid  because  I  was  naked,  and  I  hid  myself. 
And  he  said,  Who  told  thee  that  thou  wast  naked  ?  Hast  thou 
eaten  of  the  tree  whereof  I  commanded  thee  that  thou  shouldest 
not  eat  ?  And  the  man  said,  The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to 
be  with  me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat.  And  Jehovah 
God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done  ? 
And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled  me,  and  I  did  eat.” 

Hitherto  both  the  man  and  his  wife  had  been 
naked  yet  without  shame.  There  was  nothing  within 
them,  in  their  spiritual  nature,  of  which  they  had 
need  to  be  ashamed  in  the  presence  of  God  and  of 
each  other,  therefore  nothing  without  in  their  bodies 
desired  to  be  covered.  Simplicity,  innocence  is 
naked. 

But  now  in  the  consciousness  of  their  sin  they  were 
ashamed  and  afraid  ;  and  they  sought  to  cover  their 
naked  bodies,  to  hide  themselves  from  the  presence 
of  God,  and  to  excuse  themselves  for  what  they  had 


142 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 

^  >  /  , 

done.  But  here  the  question  arises,  What  connexion 
can  the  shame  of  the  naked  body  have  with  sin? 
What  could  there  be  in  the  sin  ot  the  first  man  to 
suggest  or  awaken  shame  of  his  nakedness,  when  this 
feeling  had  been  before  utterly  unknown  ?  In  order 
that  we  may  have  the  more  intelligent  view  of  this 
subject,  we  must  observe  that  there  are  twTo  feelings 
which  are  called  shame,  in  human  speech.  The  one 
is,  so  to  speak,  an  outward  and  physical  shame  which 
leads  us,  as  it  led  the  first  man,  to  cover  our  naked 
bodies.  The  other  feeling  is  one  more  inward  and 
spiritual.  It  is  the  shame  ol  remorse  or  conscious 
degradation.  The  feeling  which  a  man  has  when 
detected  in  a  sinful  and  disreputable  act  is  called 
shame,  no  less  than  that  which  leads  him  to  cover 
his  naked  body.  This  inward  and  spiritual  shame 
of  conscious  sin,  when  it  arose  in  the  heait  of  man, 
was,  of  course,  a  new  feeling,  and  demanded  some 
new  outward  expression  or  manifestation.  Foi,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  there  is  in  the  very  natuie  ol 
man  a  necessity  that  whatever  is  living  and  power¬ 
fully  moving  in  him,  should  seek  and  find  some  out¬ 
ward  manifestation,  into  which  it  may  go  forth  and 
symbolize  itself:  otherwise  the  feeling  must  perish 
out  of  his  heart.  But  the  conscience  of  sin  was  now 
in  man  a  legitimate  feeling ;  one  that  needed  to  be 
nourished  and  kept  alive,  because  upon  it  depended 
his  salvation.  If  it  should  perish,  if  he  should  sink 
down  into  that  state  in  which  he  should  be  no  more 
sensible  of  his  sin,  and  ashamed  before  God,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  renew  him  again  to  repentance. 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES.  143 

Foi  it  is  only  through  the  conviction  of  sin  that  man 
is  saved  from  it  by  the  gospel. 

Hence,  in  the  earthly  nature  of  man,  by  whose 
solicitations,  and  following  whose  wisdom,  he  had 
been  betrayed  into  sin,  was  immediately  reflected 
the  shame  of  his  degraded  spiritual  nature.  The 
sight  of  his  naked  body,  the  embodiment  of  his  sen¬ 
sual  nature,  by  which  he  had  been  seduced,  became 
odious  to  him  because  it  reflected  back  upon  him  the 
nature  of  his  sin,  and  made  its  consciousness  and 
conviction  the  more  painful.  The  shame  which  he 
felt  for  his  sin  and  folly  went  forth  and  attached 
itself  to  the  outward  form  of  the  nature  by  which  he 
had  been  led  into  transgression. 

This  is  not  fancy.  It  is  what  always  takes  place 
in  like  circumstances.  The  feeling  which  we  have 
towards  any  act  of  our  lives  goes  forth,  by  a  law  of 
oui  natuie,  and  attaches  itself  to  the  instrument  by 
which  the  act  has  been  performed.  A  single  instance 
will  serve  to  illustrate  the  truth  of  this.  When  the 
Archbishop  Cranmer  was  brought  to  the  stake,  there 
was  one  act  of  his  life  for  which  he  felt  unuttera¬ 
ble  abhorrence.  In  a  moment  of  fear  and  temptation 
he  had  formerly  signed  a  recantation  of  those  very 
doctrines  for  which  he  was  now  about  to  suffer.  The 
feeling  which  he  now  had  towards  that  act  went  forth 
and  attached  itself  to  the  hand  with  which  it  had 
been  committed.  Therefore  he  thrust  it  into  the 
flames,  and  held  it  until  it  was  consumed,  exclaiming, 
Let  this  hand  which  sinned,  first  suffer. 

Also,  hitherto  the  nakedness  of  man’s  body  had 


144 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


been  the  symbol  of  his  innocence  ;  that  he  hacl  no¬ 
thing  within  which  needed  to  be  covered  from  the  eye 
of  God.  But  now  that  he  was  polluted  and  defiled 
in  his  spiritual  nature,  and  ashamed  in  the  presence 
of  God,  the  sight  of  the  symbol  of  his  former  inno¬ 
cence,  which  was  lost  for  ever,  must  awaken  the 
most  painful  feelings.  For  whatever  calls  vividly  to 
mind  the  memory  of  that  which  was  formerly  dear, 
but  now  lost  through  our  own  sin  and  folly,  is  odious 
to  our  sight.  Therefore  the  man  and  his  wife,  to 
relieve  this  pain,  sought  to  cover  their  naked  bodies 
from  their  own  eyes,  and  from  the  eye  of  God. 

Why  this  inward  and  spiritual  shame  of  sin  attached 
itself  particularly  to  those  parts  of  the  body  which  an 
apron  or  girdle  would  cover,  is  to  be  undei  stood  fiom 
the  fact  that  in  them  is  the  whole  force  of  the  sensual 
nature  summed  up  and  concentrated.  They  aie 
always  treated  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  type  of  the 
sensual  nature,  by  which  man  was  seduced  into  sin. 
For  this  reason  the  evil  that  is  in  man  is  described 
by  the  words  carnality ,  carnal  mind ,  the  Jlesh,  concu¬ 
piscence,  adultery,  and  by  the  like  expressions.  Be¬ 
cause  these  parts  are  the  type  of  the  whole  sensual 
nature,  the  sins  of  gluttony,  drunkenness,  and  other 
evil  indulgences  of  the  appetites,  desires  and  affec¬ 
tions  of  this  nature,  are  not  forbidden  by  name  in  the 
law  delivered  from  Mount  Sinai.  That  in  man  in 
which  the  whole  force  of  this  nature  is  summed  up 
and  concentrated,  is  selected  as  the  type  of  the  whole, 
and  the  prohibition  laid  upon  it.  These  are  all  for¬ 
bidden  in  type  under  the  one  command,  Thou  shalt 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES.  145 

not  commit  adultery.  Therefore,  when  this  spiritual 
shame  seeking  an  outward  expression,  as  it  must 
needs  do,  reflected  itself  in  the  earthly  nature  of  man, 
it  naturally  sought  out  those  parts  of  his  body  in 
which  the  strength  of  that  nature  was  concentrated, 
and  by  which  it  most  powerfully  manifests  itself, 
and  attached  itself  most  closely,  though  not  exclu¬ 
sively,  to  them. 

Thus  the  feeling  which  now  arose  in  man’s  heart 
m  respect  to  his  sin,  went  forth  and  symbolized  itself 
in  the  shame  of  his  naked  body.  Thus  modesty  be¬ 
came  a  holy  symbol  to  reflect  back  into  his  soul  that 
shame  which  he  felt  for  his  sin  in  the  presence  of  God, 
fiom  which  it  first  arose,  and  which  still  remains  its 
ground  and  cause  in  every  man.  This  feeling  is  to 
keep  evei  fresh  and  living  in  the  heart  of  man  the 
conviction  and  shame  of  his  sin,  that  lor  it  he  may  go 
in  mourning  and  penitence  all  his  days. 

Theiefore,  in  the  Word  of  God,  the  shame  of  the 
naked  body  is  continually  taken  as  the  symbol  of  the 
shame  of  sin.  To  uncover  the  shame  or  nakedness 
of  a  person,  is  to  discover  his  sin  and  folly.  Thus  the 
prophet  Isaiah  threatens  the  Egyptians,  that  for  their 
sin  they  should  be  led  away  captive,  stark  naked, 
with  nothing  to  cover  their  shame.  So  he  declares 
to  the  daughter  of  Babylon ,  Thy  nakedness  shall  be 
uncovered ;  yea,  thy  shame  shall  be  seen.  Also  Jeho¬ 
vah  declares  to  J erusalem,  I  will  discover  thy  skirts 
upon  thy  face ,  that  thy  shame  may  appear .  The 
force  of  these  expressions  is  not  to  be  understood  and 
felt  except  from  the  knowledge  of  what  is  set  forth  in 

7 


146 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


this  account  of  the  origin  of  this  feeling  of  the  shame 
of  the  naked  body,  and  of  its  connection  with  sin. 

Indeed,  the  word  shame  is  the  proper  and  scriptu¬ 
ral  word  to  describe  that  feeling  which  naturally 
arises  in  the  soul  of  man  for  and  from  sin.  It  is  to 
be  preferred  to  the  heathen  word  remorse,  because 
this  latter,  which  signifies  the  biting-back  which  sin 
inflicts  upon  the  soul,  leaves  out  of  view  him  against 
whom  the  sin  has  been  committed.  But  the  word 
shame,  and  the  feeling  which  it  describes,  implies  the 
presence  of  God  before  whom  the  soul  is  ashamed. 
The  heathen  knew  not  against  whom  they  sinned ; 
therefore  they  referred  the  pain  which  arose  from 
conscious  guilt,  to  nothing  but  the  sin  itself,  and  called 
it  remorse .  But  they  who  had  this  account  of  the 
significancy  of  the  feeling  of  shame,  and  who  knew 
against  whom  they  had  sinned,  could  not  describe 
the  conscience  of  sin  by  this  word.  Therefore  they 
cry,  O  Lord  God,  I  am  ashamed,  and  blush  to  lift  up 
my  face  to  thee,  my  God ;  for  our  iniquities  are  in¬ 
creased  over  our  heads,  and  our  trespass  is  grown 
up  unto  the  heavens. 

According  to  these  views  of  the  significancy  of  the 
feeling  of  shame,  it  is  not  found  in  the  brute  because 
he  is  of  one  nature,  therefore  incapable  of  sin,  there¬ 
fore  again,  incapable  of  shame.  Even  in  the  highest 
ranks  of  mere  animals  it  is  utterly  unknown.  They 
can  feel  fear,  but  of  shame  they  give  not  the  slightest 
manifestations. 

Neither  is  it  found  in  the  infant,  because,  although 
the  root  of  all  sin  is  in  him,  he  has  not  vet  sinned 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


147 


after  the  similitude  of  Adam’s  transgression ;  that  is 
to  say,  he  has  not  deliberately  and  consciously  re¬ 
belled  against  the  clearly  enunciated,  and  fully 
recognised  law  of  God.  He  has  not  yet,  by  a  free 
act  of  his  own,  elevated  the  sensual  nature  with  its 
wisdom  into  the  sphere  of  the  conscience,  to  control 
its  judgments  in  his  choice  between  good  and  evil. 
The  Wisdom  and  authority  of  God  is  not  yet  mani¬ 
fested  in  his  conscience.  He  is  as  yet  ignorant  of 
the  law  of  God.  Hence  he  is  ignorant  of  the  feeling 
of  shame.  But  when  this  law  of  God  shall  begin  to 
enunciate  itself  in  his  conscience,  and  his  transgres¬ 
sion  of  it  shall  become  precise  and  conscious,  his 
shame  of  his  naked  body  shall  begin  to  be  felt ;  for 
not  till  then  does  he  become  capable  of  the  shame 
of  sin,  of  which  it  is  the  reflection  and  divinely  ap¬ 
pointed  symbol.  But  when  it  happens  that  the  man 
goes  on  in  sin,  hardening  his  heart,  and  stifling  the 
voice  of  the  conscience,  until  his  susceptibility  to  the 
sense  and  shame  of  sin  becomes  destroyed,  he  loses 
also,  to  a  great  degree,  the  shame  of  his  naked  body. 
Often  it  perishes  altogether.  Then  man  is  restrained 
from  the  open  exposure  of  his  person,  and  from  the 
open  gratification  of  his  brutal  lusts,  only  by  former 
habit,  by  the  customs  of  society,  and  by  the  penal¬ 
ties  of  the  civil  law.  He  is  given  over  to  his  own 
heart’s  lusts ,  to  work  all  uncleanness  with  greediness. 
This  is  the  force  of  the  charge  which  God  brings 
against  the  nation  of  the  Jews.  Thou  hast  a  whore’s 
forehead,  and  refusest  to  he  ashamed.  Hence  also, 


148 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


to  be  shameless  signifies  in  common  speech,  to  be 
utterly  abandoned. 

Among  those  nations  also  which  are  entirely  savage 
and  uncultivated,  as  are  many  of  the  African  tribes, 
the  feeling  of  shame  is  weak  and  ill-defined.  In 
some  it  scarcely  appears  at  all,  although  perhaps 
none  are  entirely  without  it.  They  know  not  the 
clearly  enunciated  law  of  right  and  wrong.  The 
oracle  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  making  known  its 
authoritative  distinctions  between  good  and  evil, 
is  scarcely  heard  by  them.  The  light  which  has 
shined  into  their  darkness  they  have  utterly  failed  to 
comprehend.  The  conscience  in  them  has  almost 
entirely  ceased  to  be  a  medium  of  communication 
between  their  souls  and  God.  They  do  not  rebel 
against  the  clearly  recognised  law.  Their  sin  after 
the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression  is  not  precise 
and  conscious.  Therefore  in  them  the  sense  and 
shame  of  sin  is  scarcely  felt ;  and  therefore  again, 
its  reflection  and  symbol,  the  shame  of  their  naked 
bodies  is  almost  unknown.  But  when  the  law  is 
preached  to  them,  and  their  conscience  of  sin  is 
awakened  into  life  ;  when  they  recognise  themselves 
as  transgressors  of  the  law  of  God,  and  rebels 
against  his  authority,  their  shame  is  felt,  and  they 
cover  their  naked  bodies,  especially  those  parts  in 
which  the  strength  of  the  sensual  nature  is  summed 
up  and  concentrated. 

Hence  it  is  that,  when  the  disposition  to  uncover 
the  body  more  and  more  makes  its  appearance  among 
civilized  nations  who  have  the  clearly  enunciated 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


149 


law  of  God  revealed  from  without  and  affirmed 
within,  especially  among  women,  it  is  always  the 
unerring  sign  and  proof  of  great  corruption  of 
morals,  by  which  the  sense  and  shame  of  sin  against 
God,  together  with  that  which  is  the  sacred  symbol 
of  it,  ordained  of  God  to  keep  it  ever  fresh  and 
living  in  the  heart  of  man,  is  abolished  and  destroy¬ 
ed.  Blessed  be  modesty !  For  sinful  man  it  is  a 
holy  thing. 

But  while  in  Adam,  the  conviction  and  shame  of 
his  sin,  with  its  reflection,  the  shame  of  his  naked 
body,  and  the  desire  to  be  covered,  were  now  le¬ 
gitimate  feelings,  and  appropriate  to  his  defiled  and 
polluted  state,  yet  the  attempt  to  cover  himself,  and 
to  hide  himself  from  the  presence  of  God,  arose  from 
a  most  evil  and  sinful  delusion,  of  which  the  girdle 
of  fig  leaves  is  the  most  significant  and  expressive 
symbol.  This  delusion  is  that  state  of  mind  in 
which  man  desires  and  hopes  and  attempts  to  palliate 
and  excuse  his  sin  in  his  own  eyes,  and  in  the  eyes 
of  God.  This  is  a  deep,  radical,  though  often  un¬ 
conscious  insincerity  in  man  towards  himself  and 
towards  God.  It  is  that  which  Jesus  charges  upon 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  under  the  word  hypocrisy. 
Ye  are  they  who  justify  yourselves .  How  can  ye 
believe  ?  It  is  that  which  is  called  in  Scripture  the 
refuge  of  lies.  To  the  nature  and  manifestations  of 
this  delusion,  as  it  is  symbolized  and  brought  out  in 
words,  in  the  dialogue  that  follows  between  God  and 
man,  we  must  now  turn  our  attention. 

When  the  man  and  his  wife  heard  the  Voice  of  God 


150 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


walking  in  the  garden  in  the  cool  ol  the  day,  they  at¬ 
tempted  to  hide  themselves  from  his  presence.  They 
were  afraid  because  they  were  naked. 

The  meaning  of  the  expression,  I  was  afraid  be¬ 
cause  I  was  naked,  is  to  be  understood  by  comparison 
with  such  words  as  those  which  Jesus  addressed  to 
his  disciples  when  he  offered  them  the  saciamental 
bread  and  wine,  saying,  This  is  my  body ;  this  is  my 
blood.  The  simple  nakedness  of  man  was  not  that 
which  made  him  afraid,  and  drove  him  fiom  the  pie- 
sence  of  God.  For  he  had  been  naked  when  he  most 
rejoiced  in  that  presence.  •  But  that  shame  of  his  na¬ 
kedness  which  he  now  felt  was  the  symbol  of  his  shame 
of  sin,  as  the  bread  and  the  wine  are  the  symbols  of 
the  body  and  the  blood.  That  which  made  him 
ashamed  and  afraid  was  the  conscience  of  sin,  fiom 
which  the  shame  of  his  bodily  nakedness  aiose.  This 
it  was  which  led  him  to  attempt  to  flee  and  hide  him¬ 
self  from  the  voice  of  God. 

This  is  a  symbol  of  universal  significance.  Thus 
it  is  with  man.  For  when  the  pleasure  of  sin  has 
passed,  when  the  tumultuous  transports  of  the  sensual 
nature  have  subsided,  in  the  cool  of  leflection,  man 
hears  the  Voice  of  God  in  the  conscience,  conducting 
him  of  sin  and  folly,  and  destroying  all  his  peace, 
as  Adam  heard  it  in  the  cool  ol  the  day  walking  in 
the  garden.  Of  this  voice  he  is  now  afraid  because 
it  is  that  of  him  against  whom  he  has  sinned.  In  its 
presence  his  shame  is  discovered.  He  feels  that  now 
there  is  that  within  him  which  cannot  stand  the  scru¬ 
tiny  of  God,  which  he  would  wish  to  hide  Irom  his, 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


151 


and  from  every  eye.  He  tries  to  flee  and  hide  him¬ 
self  from  this  presence,  as  Adam  sought  to  hide  him¬ 
self  in  the  midst  of  the  trees  of  the  garden.  For 
this  purpose,  he  plunges  into  the  avocations  of  the 
mortal  life,  and  tries  to  charm  the  voice  to  silence  by 
amusements,  pleasures  and  dissipation.  He  would 
drown  it  in  the  turmoil  and  clamor  of  this  world. 
But  he  flees  and  hides  himself  in  vain.  The  voice 
follows  him.  It  calls  him  in  tones  which  he  is  forced 
to  hear ;  Man  where  art  thou  ?  In  vain  he  assigns, 
as  a  reason  for  hiding  himself,  that  he  is  naked  and 
ashamed  and  afraid.  Who  told  thee  that  thou  wast 
naked  ?  Whence  came  this  fear  and  shame  ?  The 
necessity  itself  which  he  now  feels  of  trying  to 
escape  from  the  rebuking  voice  in  his  conscience,  is 
the  evidence  and  ground  of  conviction  that  he  has 
sinned.  Innocence  does  not  seek  to  cover  nor  to 
hide  itself.  It  does  not  know  what  shame  is,  nor 
fear  ;  because  it  does  not  know  what  sin  is.  It  has 
all  boldness  and  confidence  in  the  presence  of  the 
justice  of  God,  revealed  through  the  conscience. 

When  the  Voice  of  God  had  reached  man  in  the 
depth  of  his  hiding  place,  and  forced  him  to  acknow¬ 
ledge  the  fact  of  his  transgression,  then  he  attempted 
to  take  refuge  in  self-deceit,  the  refuge  of  lies.  He 
would  excuse  himself  by  laying  the  blame  of  his  sin 
upon  God  and  upon  his  wife.  The  conviction  that 
he  had  sinned  without  any  excuse  or  palliation  was 
too  horrible  to  be  borne,  even  for  a  moment.  Self¬ 
ishness  had  now  entered,  and  taken  possession  of  his 
heart.  That  act  to  which  he  was  led  by  feelings  so 


152 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


unselfish  towards  his  wife,  so  generous  and  self-sacii- 
ficing,  as  they  appeared  him,  because  it  was  chosen 
in  opposition  to  the  Wisdom  of  God,  the  only  just 
criterion  of  what  is  truly  generous,  has  landed  him 
in  the  heart  of  the  most  loathsome  selfishness 
towards  God  and  his  neighbor.  Therefore  let  the 
blame  of  his  sin  go  anywhere  rather  than  remain 
upon  himself.  Let  it  rest  upon  God  himself,  01  upon 
her  for  whose  love  he  has  not  scrupled  to  tiansgiess 
the  law  of  God.  The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  he 
with  me ,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree  and  I  did  eat.  Poor 
girdle  of  fig  leaves  !  it  cannot  hide  his  nakedness. 
It  must  be  all  stripped  off,  and  his  soul  must  appear 

naked  before  God  to  be  judged. 

In  all  this,  and  through  the  whole  account,  Adam 
speaks  and  acts  in  the  character  of  man  ;  and  his 
words  and  actions  are  the  symbols  of  univeisal  tiuth. 
Thus  it  is  here.  For  thus  man  continually  seeks  to 
palliate  and  excuse  his  sin  by  the  reasonings  and 
devices  of  the  carnal  mind.  To  remove  the  guilt 
from  himself,  to  silence  his  conscience  of  sin ,  he  tiies 
with  all  his  might  to  lay  it  upon  something,  or  some¬ 
one  else,  upon  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
born  and  brought  up,  upon  his  forefathers,  upon  his 
corrupt  nature,  upon  the  strength  of  his  temptations, 
and  upon  a  thousand  other  things.  Thus  he  seeks  to 
cover  his  sin  from  himself  and  from  the  eye  of  God. 
The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the  children's 
teeth  are  set  on  edge.  I  knew  thee ,  that  thou  wast  an 
austere  man,  and  I  was  a  fraid.  In  all  of  these  cases 
the  blame,,  if  pushed  back,  must  rest  upon  God  at 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


153 


last ;  and  there  in  fact  it  is  placed,  even  when  men 
are  least  conscious  of  making  against  him  so  horrible 
a  charge. 

But  nothing  that  man  can  devise  or  think  of,  can 
excuse  or  palliate  sin,  otherwise  it  would  not  be  sin. 
The  blame  of  it  cannot  rest  anywhere  but  upon  him¬ 
self;  otherwise  it  would  not  be  sin.  The  tempter 
himself  cannot  bear  the  blame  of  any  sin  but  his  own. 
For  all  the  circumstances  of  every  case  in  which 
man  can  be  placed,  all  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
obedience,  all  the  temptations  which  can  arise,  with 
all  their  power,  are  present  to  the  mind  of  God, 
when  he  gives  the  command.  Therefore  for  every 
excuse  or  palliation  that  man  can  devise  or  think  of, 
for  transgression,  there  must  stand  prepared  before¬ 
hand  this  answer  from  the  judgment  of  God.  I 
knew  you  would  have  that  excuse,  that  reason  for 
disobedience  when  I  gave  you  the  command.  I 
knew  it  all ;  had  weighed  all  its  force.  Yet  I  gave 
you  the  command  notwithstanding,  and  meant  to  be 
obeyed,  because  I  saw  that  that  reason  for  disobeying 
was  not  valid  nor  sound.  If  I  had  seen  that  there 
could  be  any  valid  excuse  for  not  doing  what  I  com¬ 
manded  you,  I  would  not  have  given  you  the  com¬ 
mand.  Thou  knewest  that  I  was  an  austere  man ! 
Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  judge  thee ,  thou  wicked 
servant.  Every  excuse,  every  palliation  which  man 
can  think  of  to  cover  his  sin,  is  always  a  device  of 
the  carnal  mind,  and  utterly  a  delusion,  which,  how¬ 
ever  valid  it  may  appear,  must  perish  in  the  presence 
of  the  searching  and  infallible  judgment  of  God.  At 

7# 


154 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


best  it  can  be  nothing  more  to  his  soul,  than  was  the 
flimsy  girdle  of  fig  leaves  to  the  naked  body  o 

Adam. 

This  universal  tendency  of  the  sinful  soul  to  try  to 
cover  its  sin  from  its  own  eyes,  and  fiom  the  eye  of 
God,  together  with  the  folly  of  every  such  attempt,  is 
here  symbolized  in  the  most  expressive  manner,  for 
the  revelation  to  every  man  of  the  deceitfulness  of 
his  own  depraved  heart  and  mind.  Nothing  can 
avert  the  judgment  of  God  in  condemnation  of  sin. 

Thus  also  it  is  always,  as  here  exemplified,  that 
what  appears  to  man  the  most  generous  and  self- 
sacrifising  action  in  the  world,  if  it  be  forbidden  by 
the  Wisdom  of  God,  must  in  the  end  generate  in  his 
soul  the  most  loathsome  and  abominable  selfishness ; 
or  rather,  it  must  become  manifested  as  selfishness. 
For  as  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  whole  law,  so  self¬ 
ishness,  the  want  of  love,  must  be  the  heait  and 
substance  of  all  transgression  of  the  law,  however  it 
may  disguise  itself.  This  is  the  secret  of  that  bittei 
and  terrible  hatred  which  so  often  arises,  and  which 
must  sooner  or  later  always  arise,  between  those  who 
have  been  led  into  transgression  of  the  Wisdom  ol 
God,  by  the  force  and  passion  of  human  love.  When 
the  terror  of  God’s  judgment  reaches  the  soul,  if  not 
before,  all  those  feelings  which  seemed  so  generous 
and  self-sacrifising  are  brought  out  in  their  true  cha¬ 
racter.  The  semblance  of  generosity  which  they 
wore  is  pierced  through  by  the  eye  of  God,  and 
stripped  off.  That  only  remains  which  was  their 
heart  and  substance  from  the  first,  such  selfishness  as 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


155 


leads  a  man  to  lay  the  blame  of  his  own  sin  upon  his 
God,  and  upon  the  wife  of  his  bosom.  God  only  can 
choose  for  man  what  is  truly  generous.  Man  is  not 
able  to  choose  by  his  own  wisdom  that  which  shall 
abide  the  presence  of  the  judgment  of  God. 

As  the  Voice  of  God  approaches  nearer  to  the 
origin  ol  sin,  its  questioning  becomes  more  searching, 
and  implies  more  certain  condemnation.  What  is 
this  that  thou  hast  done  ?  And  the  woman  said, 
The  serpent  beguiled  me ,  and  I  did  eat.  This  is 
the  repetition  in  her  of  the  same  feelings  and  thoughts, 
in  the  substance  of  them,  which  had  already  been 
expressed  by  her  husband,  and  which  are  symbol¬ 
ized  by  the  girdle  of  fig  leaves.  Only  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  word  here  translated,  beguiled , 
means  to  deceive  by  causing  to  forget.  Instilling  into 
the  mind  of  the  woman  his  subtle  and  poisonous  sug¬ 
gestions,  the  tempter  caused  her  to  forget,  to  lose  out 
of  mind  the  command  she  had  received.  When  she 
took  of  the  tree  and  did  eat ,  she  was  not  thinking  of 
the  law  of  God,  but  of  the  pleasure  of  indulgence. 
She  was  in  the  act  of  seeing,  that  the  tree  was  plea - 
sant  to  the  eye ,  and  good  for  food,  and  to  be  desired 
to  make  one  wise.  Thus,  also,  with  the  command, 
the  penalty  of  disobedience,  announced  to  guard  her 
innocence,  sank  down  out  of  her  sight  and  faith,  and 
full  before  her  stood  the  anticipated  pleasure  of  grati¬ 
fied  desire. 

In  like  manner  it  is  universally  true,  and  here  set 
forth  to  be  recognised  by  all,  that  when  the  sensual 
desires  rise  up  in  rebellion  against  the  authority  of 


1.56 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


the  Wisdom  of  God,  revealed  through  the  conscience 
in  man,  he  is  blinded.  The  law  ol  God  seems  to 
recede.  It  grows  dim  and  uncertain.  The  desiie 
to  experience  immediate  pleasure  causes  him  to  lose 
out  of  mind  the  command,  with  its  penalty.  The 
pleasure  is  something  immediate,  present  and  power¬ 
ful.  It  looms  large  and  full  before  him,  so  as  to  fill 
his  mind.  The  evil  consequences  of  disobedience 
are  future,  dim  and  shadowy.  They  are  uncertain 
in  his  eyes.  The  hope  ol  escape  from  them  aiises. 
The  man  is  beguiled  in  being  caused  to  forget. 

In  order  to  meet  this  universal  tendency,  and  to 
keep  ever  present  to  the  mind  ol  the  tempted,  the 
authority  of  the  law  ol  God,  with  the  ceitainty  and 
horrible  nature  of  the  penalty  of  disobedience,  when 
he,  who  is  the  only  true  light  of  the  conscience,  was 
manifested  in  the  flesh,  he  opened  his  mission  with 
the  full  announcement  of  the  law.  Till  Heaven  and 
earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass 
from  the  law  till  all  he  fulfilled.  Also,  the  words  in 
which  he,  who  suffered  the  whole  force  of  the  pen¬ 
alty  of  disobedience,  describes  it,  are  of  such  ten  ible 
import  that  they  cause  the  flesh  to  thrill,  and  the  hail 
to  rise  with  horror.  They  are  the  outer  darkness , 
the  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth ,  the 
worm  that  never  dies ,  and  the  unquenchable  fire. 

The  Voice  of  God  has  followed  the  guilty  parents 
of  the  human  race.  In  the  midst  ol  their  hiding- 
place,  under  all  the  excuses  and  palliations  which 
they  have  been  able  to  devise,  the  judgment  of  God 
has  reached  them.  Their  poor  girdle  of  fig  leaves 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FJG  LEAVES. 


157 


all  stripped  ofl^  naked  they  stand  in  the  presence  of 
the  flaming  eye  ot  Truth.  They  submit  themselves  to 
the  judgment  of  him  against  whom  they  have  sinned, 
without  excuse  and  without  palliation,  as  now  they 
well  know.  They  await  the  pronunciation  in  words 
ot  the  doom  which  they  have  already  incurred  and 
brought  upon  themselves ;  after  which,  God  shall 
clothe  them  in  other  covering  than  fig  leaves,  and  by 
other  hands  than  their  own. 

Thus,  also,  must  the  judgment  of  God  at  last  reach 
the  soul  of  every  man  who  has  sinned  after  the  simi¬ 
litude  of  Adam’s  transgression.  So  long  as  he  stands 
framing  excuses  and  palliations  for  his  sin,  seeks  to 
cover  it  from  his  own  eyes  and  from  God,  to  fly  and 
hide  himself  from  the  presence  of  the  Voice  in  his 
conscience ;  while  he  tries  to  escape  conviction  by 
any  means  whatsoever,  this  judgment  is  yet  a  judg¬ 
ment  to  come.  It  is  following  him,  and  one  day  shall 
surely  find  him  out.  Stripped  of  all  these,  naked, 
emptied  of  all  self-trust,  feeling  that  every  excuse  or 
palliation  that  he  can  possibly  think  of,  is  utterly  a 
delusion,  without  the  least  validity,  however  it  may 
appear  to  his  wisdom,  sensible  that  he  is  utterly  help¬ 
less — thus,  if  he  would  be  saved,  he  must  surrender 
himself  into  the  hands  of  the  judgment  of  God.  Upon 
him  who  does  this,  the  judgment  which  God  pro¬ 
nounces  shall  be  mercy.  He  shall  baptize  him  with 
all-purifying  fire.  He  shall  cause  him  to  be  crucified 
with  Christ,  to  die  with  him  unto  sin,  that  with  him 
he  may  live  evermore  unto  God.  He  shall  judge 
the  evil  in  him,  and  destroy  it  out  of  him.  That 


158 


OF  THE  GIRDLE  OF  FIG  LEAVES. 


which  God  shall  lay  upon  him  in  the  form  ol  toil  and 
sorrow  and  death,  shall  be  the  greatest  blessing  which 
he,  being  sinful,  can  receive.  It  shall  be  the  means, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  of  purging  out  of  him  the  seeds 
of  corruption  and  death.  He  shall  be  clothed  with 
the  righteousness  of  God,  by  God’s  own  hands. 

These  are  some  of  the  truths,  universal  for  man, 
which  are  set  forth  by,  and  under  these  events  in  the 
life  of  Adam.  There  are  others,  also,  which  can  be 
brought  into  a  clearer  light,  when  we  come  to  tieat 
of  the  clothing  of  man  with  the  skins  of  slaughtered 
animals  by  the  hand  ol  God. 


OP  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


159 


..  '  r  ■  i  f  £  » 

CHAPTER  XII. 

OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 

“  And  Jehovah  God  said  unto  the  serpent,  Because  thou  hast  done 
this,  thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and  above  every  beast  of 
the  field.  Upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat 
all  the  days  of  thy  life.  And  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee 
and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  Seed.  He  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel.” 

In  the  temptation  the  Adversary  succeeded  in  his 
malignant  design  of  destroying  the  moral  image  of 
God  from  the  soul  of  man ;  and  reflected  his  own 
likeness  in  its  place.  Now,  therefore,  he  comes 
under  the  curse  which  his  own  short-sighted  subtlety, 
the  wisdom  of  enmity,  has  brought  upon  himself. 
This  curse  is  not  pronounced  upon  him  directly,  but 
upon  the  serpent,  the  instrument  which  he  had  chosen 
to  reflect  his  own  likeness  in  the  soul  of  man ;  and 
it  is  only  by  recognising  the  truth,  that  here,  as  be¬ 
fore,  the  serpent  is  taken  as  the  symbol  of  the  Devil, 
that  what  is  spoken  of  it  becomes  applicable  to  him, 
and  to  his  work  and  image  in  the  spiritual  nature  of 
man.  We  must  proceed  therefore,  to  empty  the 
symbol  of  some  of  its  significancy. 

The  serpent,  before  declared  to  be  more  subtle 
than  any  beast  of  the  field,  is  unable,  as  we  now  be- 


160  OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 

hold  him,  to  move  in  a  straight,  direct,  right  manner. 
His  movements  are  tortuous — the  most  oblique  and 
complicated  involutions  and  evolutions  of  his  whole 
body.  His  eye  is  level  with  the  ground,  so  that  he 
cannot  see  but  the  shortest  distance  ahead.  He 
grovels  upon  his  belly.  He  is  the  most  gieedy  of 
all  creatures.  His  food  is  of  the  most  loathsome 
and  abominable  kind,  which  he  swallows  in  the 
crudest  masses.  His  mouth  is  full  of  deadly  poison, 
which  he  seeks  to  inject  into  every  other  creatuie. 
He  is  the  enemy  of  all  things  above  himself,  espe¬ 
cially  of  man  ;  and  man  is  his  enemy.  They  meet 
only  that  the  serpent  may  bruise  his  heel,  and  he 
crush  the  serpent’s  head.  This  is  the  symbol  here 
appointed  by  God  to  describe  the  nature  and  destiny 
of  Satan,  and  of  his  likeness,  the  serpent  in  man. 

The  spiritual  adversary  of  God  and  man,  there¬ 
fore,  knows  not  the  straight,  direct,  right  guidance 
of  the  Wisdom  and  authority  of  God,  which  com¬ 
mands  him  to  do  this  as  right,  and  forbids  him  to  do 
that  as  wrong.  This  he  has  cast  ofl  for  the  wis¬ 
dom  of  subtlety,  his  own  creature,  calculating  wis¬ 
dom,  which  moves  towards  those  objects  only  which 
seem  good  to  itself,  by  the  oblique  and  complicated 
involutions  and  evolutions  of  the  reasoning  mind. 
His  is  not  simple  or  direct  or  right,  but  tortuous. 
Now  this  wisdom,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not  and  can¬ 
not  be,  to  any  creature  destined  to  immortality,  an 

*  “  These  animals  (serpents)  are  above  all  others  the  most  vora¬ 
cious.  Happy  is  it  for  mankind  that  the  rapacity  of  these  frightful 
creatures  is  often  their  punishment.”— Buffon. 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


161 


adequate  guide  of  choice  between  good  and  evil. 
Therefore  he  is,  with  all  his  subtlety,  short-sighted. 
His  eye  is  level  with  the  ground.  He  is  a  grovelling 
power  ;  utterly  unable  to  look  up  to  the  pure,  the 
true,  the  beautiful,  the  holy,  with  adoration  and  love. 
Towards  these  things,  as  he  beholds  them,  he  feels 
a  perfect  hatred.  Evil  he  calls  good,  and  good  evil. 
He  loves  the  loathsome  and  abominable ;  all  things 
that  tend  to  work  evil.  It  is  his  meat  and  his  drink 
to  do  his  own  malignant  will.  His  mouth  is  full  of 
deadly  poison,  which  he  continually  seeks  to  inject 
into  all  other  natures,  that  he  may  destroy  their  spi¬ 
ritual  well-being.  He  wages  unceasing  warfare 
against  everything  above  him,  especially  against 
God,  and  God’s  image  in  man.  But  in  all  this  he 
brings  upon  himself  the  evil  which  he  intends  against 
others.  While  he  bruises  the  heel  of  the  Seed  of 
the  woman,  in  and  by  the  very  act,  he  places  his 
head  under  that  heel,  by  which  it  is  crushed,  and  his 
power  destroyed. 

The  great  and  decisive  battle  of  this  warfare, 
which  had  raged  from  the  fall  of  Satan,  in  which  his 
power  was  broken,  and  his  head  crushed,  was 
fought  by  the  Word  and  Wisdom  of  God  incarnate 
in  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  He  entered  into  the  human 
soul,  the  nature  of  man,  from  which  his  image  had 
been  defaced,  and  the  image  of  Satan  set  up  in  its 
place ;  from  which  the  authority  of  his  wisdom  had 
been  dethroned,  to  give  place  to  the  subtlety  of  the 
Devil.  He  met  the  enemy  in  his  own  dominions, 
conquered  him  there,  and  expelled  him  thence.  In 


162 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


the  flesh  of  Adam  he  encountered  all  the  subtlety 
and  malignity  of  Satan.  He  foiled  all  his  weapons. 
The  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the 
pride  of  a  life  independent  of  God,  by  which  the 
first  man  had  been  overcome,  had  no  power  over 
him,  the  Second  Man.  In  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  he 
brought  the  flesh  and  soul  and  wisdom  of  man  once 
more  into  perfect  and  filial  subjection  to,  and  unity 
with  God,  by  revealing  in  him  the  Word  and  Wis¬ 
dom  of  God  with  power.  Thus  in  Jesus,  preserving 
him  against  all  the  assaults  of  the  enemy,  from  all 
spot  and  taint  of  sin,  he  redeemed  and  rescued  the 
nature  of  man. 

When,  in  the  mystery  of  the  Wisdom  of  God, 
whose  thoughts  are  not  as  our  thoughts,  it  was  seen 
to  be  indispensable  to  the  deliverance  of  his  brethren 
from  the  power  of  the  Devil,  that  Jesus  should  bear 
their  curse,  voluntarily  he  took  it  upon  himself. 
He  descended  to  the  source  of  the  evil  which  had 
invaded  human  nature,  to  the  lowest  depths  of  the 
curse  ;  and  by  voluntarily  bearing  it,  overcame  it. 
For  a  man  is  not  subdued  by  what  he  voluntarily 
suffers,  but  conquers  it,  by  the  force  of  his  will. 
Therefore  Jesus  is  so  careful  to  declare,  I  lay  down 
my  life  of  myself ;  no  man  taketh  it  from  me.  I  have 
power  to  lay  it  down  and  have  power  to  take  it  again. 
He  was  born  of  the  woman  according  to  the  judg¬ 
ment  pronounced  upon  her  for  her  sin.  Voluntarily 
he  bore  the  cruel  hatred  and  scorn  of  his  brethren. 
Voluntarily  he  submitted  himself  to  the  wrath  of 
God,  and  expiated  the  guilt  of  the  sinner  by  offering 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


163 


up  himself  for  the  sacrifice,  a  lamb  without  spot. 
He  took  upon  himself  shame  and  toil  and  sorrow 
and  death,  the  judgment  of  man  for  sin ;  and  thus 
made  atonement  between  God  and  man.  He 
overcame  death  by  rising  from  under  its  bonds  into 
newness  of  life,  that  he  might  destroy  him  who  had 
the  power  of  death ,  that  is,  the  Devil.  Out  of  the 
dark  and  mournful  grave  he  brought  life  and  im¬ 
mortality  to  light.  He  revealed  the  blessing  that  is 
in  all  the  afflictions  of  the  mortal  life ;  and  thus 
took  away  their  sting.  He  turned  everything  into 
blessing,  into  the  means  of  salvation  from  sin,  to  all 
who  believe  on  him. 

But  above  all,  upon  the  cross  he  triumphed  over 
the  subtlety  and  malignity  of  Satan,  in  that  he  made 
him  the  instrument  of  destroying  his  own  power. 
For  all  that  the  Power  of  evil  could  do,  was  to  lay 
that  only  foundation  stone  of  the  salvation  of  man 
which  could  be  laid,  and  which  is  the  crucified 
Christ.  Here  it  was,  by  the  Redeemer  upon  the 
cross,  to  which  he  had  been  nailed  by  the  malice  of 
the  Devil,  that  he,  with  all  his  principalities  and 
powers  was  triumphed  over  when  most  he  seemed 
to  triumph.  Here  he  was  made  a  spectacle  of 
mockery  and  derision  to  the  universe.  By  the  de¬ 
monstration  here  given  of  the  short-sighted  folly  of 
his  wisdom,  the  wisdom  of  subtlety,  in  that  it  is 
damned  to  overreach  and  confound  itself,  the  power 
of  Satan  over  all  who  believe  in  the  cross  is  de¬ 
stroyed.  Here  the  head  of  the  serpent  is  crushed. 
All  the  manifestations  of  his  power  which  have  ap- 


164 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


peared  in  the  world  since  the  day  of  the  cross,  are 
but  the  writhings  of  the  lower  extremities  of  a 
wounded  snake,  whose  head  has  been  crushed  by 
the  heel  of  man. 

But  this  symbol  also  describes  the  nature  and  des¬ 
tiny  of  the  likeness  of  Satan  in  man.  This  is  that  in 
virtue  of  which  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  are  called, 
Children  of  the  devil ,  A  generation  of  serpents ;  in 
virtue  of  which  Elymas  the  sorcerer  is  addressed  in 
the  words,  O  full  of  all  subtlety  and  mischief ,  thou 
child  of  the  devil,  thou  enemy  of  all  righteousness, 
wilt  thou  not  cease  to  pervert  the  right  ways  of  the 
Lord  ?  The  head  of  this  serpent  in  man  is  subtlety, 
the  wisdom  of  the  creature  erected  into  independ¬ 
ence  of,  and  opposition  to  the  Wisdom  of  God.  It  is 
that  wisdom  in  man  which  is  first  by  its  own  nature, 
earthly,  belonging  to  the  sensual  nature,  but  which 
adopted  as  the  guide  of  choice  between  good  and 
evil,  becomes  devilish.  It  is  the  carnal  or  fleshly 
mind. 

In  the  act  of  adopting  this  his  own  creature  wis¬ 
dom  as  the  guide  of  life,  as  we  have  seen,  man  re¬ 
belled  against  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God. 
He  cast  off  the  simple,  direct,  right  wisdom  of  au¬ 
thority  revealed  in  his  conscience,  commanding  this 
and  forbidding  that,  and  bringing  down  from  God 
into  his  soul  the  knowledge  of  the  eternal  difference 
between  good  and  evil.  He  fell  back  upon  his  own 
creature  wisdom,  upon  his  own  insights,  upon  the 
oblique  and  complicated  processes  of  his  own  mind, 
as  a  guide  of  choice  between  good  and  evil.  This 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


165 


was  his  sin.  But  under  the  guidance  of  this  wisdom 
every  choice  of  the  man  must  be  prescribed  and  dic¬ 
tated  beforehand  by  the  appetites,  desires  and  affec¬ 
tions  of  the  earthly  nature  at  whose  head  it  stands. 
According  to  it,  he  judges  of  all  things  from  the  earth¬ 
ly  point  of  view.  But,  since  he  is  destined  to  immor¬ 
tality,  this  is  always  a  partial  and  false  view.  To 
do  this  is  to  be  short-sighted  as  the  serpent,  whose 
head  is  level  with  the  ground.  For  the  only  far¬ 
sighted  wisdom  is  that  of  the  conscience,  which, 
when  it  is  trulv  heard,  and  other  voices  are  not  mis- 
taken  for  its  voice,  gives  its  oracles  of  distinction  be¬ 
tween  good  and  evil,  according  to  God’s  knowledge 
of  these  things,  and  in  view  of  their  everlasting  con¬ 
sequences.  Therefore  man  chooses  evil  instead  of  good. 
The  evil  of  his  choice  enters  into  his  own  nature,  de¬ 
grading  and  defiling  it  by  reflex  influence.  Thus  is 
strengthened  and  developed  that  evil  which  was  the 
principle  of  the  first  act  of  sin.  He  falls  prone  upon  his 
belly  and  grovels.  He  is  no  longer  able  to  look  upwards 
towards  that  which  is  pure  and  holy  and  self-sacri- 
fising  with  adoration  and  love.  The  immaculate 
holiness  of  Christ  makes  no  more  favorable  impres¬ 
sion  upon  him  in  thi$  state  than  it  did  upon  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees.  Speak  to  him  now  of  the 
beauty  of  holiness ,  and  he  knows  not  what  you  mean. 
There  is  no  beauty  in  this  that  he  should  desire  it. 
Tell  him  of  the  charm  of  meekness  under  insult  and 
injury,  of  love  to  his  enemies,  of  returning  good  for 
evil  and  he  knows  not  whereof  you  speak.  The 
force  of  these  words,  beauty  and  charm ,  thus  applied, 


166  OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 

does  not  reach  him  at  all.  Show  him  a  good  man, 
after  the  Wisdom  and  example  of  Christ,  denying 
himself  for  the  benefit  ol  others,  sacrifising  his  life 
and  fortune  to  the  welfare  of  his  brethren,  and  all 
that  he  sees  is  a  hypocrite,  or  a  fanatic  and  fool. 
Lead  him  to  the  cross  of  Calvary,  show  him  the  man 
Jesus  laying  down  his  life  in  agony  and  blood  for  his 
brethren,  and  he  will  cry,  He  saved  others  ;  himself  he 
cannot  save.  Come  down  from  the  cross  if  thou  he 
the  Son  of  God ,  and  I  will  believe.  That  joy  for 
which  the  Redeemer  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame,  is  absolutely  inconceivable  to  him.  The 
Word  of  God  is  no  longer  food  to  him :  he  thinks  he 
can  live  upon  bread  alone. 

Ah!  he  is  subtle  but  not  wise.  The  knowledge 
of  the  whole  world  of  physical  things  may  be  laid 
open  before  him.  He  may  stretch  nature  upon  the 
rack  and  extort  from  her  all  her  secrets.  He  may 
bridge  the  ocean  with  his  ships,  and  weave  over  the 
earth  a  network  of  railroad.  He  may  harness  the 
winged  lightning  to  bear  his  messages  from  pole  to 
pole.  He  may  be  master  of  the  most  rigid  and 
powerful  logic,  as  a  child  controls  the  motions  of  his 
puppet.  He  may  embrace  the  most  comprehensive 
formulas  of  that  science  which  pertains  to  things 
earthly  and  perishable,  and  which  is  all  concluded 
within  the  limits  of  the  ideas  of  time  and  space. 
The  highest  abstractions  of  mathematics,  and  meta¬ 
physics  may  be  his  playthings.  Yet  with  all  this, 
when  you  speak  to  him  of  God  and  spirit,  of  right 
and  wrong,  he  will  reply,  I  cannot  see  nor  hear 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


167 


nor  taste  nor  feel,  nor  smell  God  nor  spirit  nor  right 
nor  wrong.  God  is  but  a  phantom  of  man’s  imagi¬ 
nation,  created  by  his  fears.  There  is  no  right  nor 
wrong  but  pleasure  and  pain. 

All  this,  the  creature  wisdom  erected  into  indepen¬ 
dence  of  the  wisdom  of  God,  is  utterly  in  vain  as  a 
guide  of  choice  between  good  and  evil.  Hence  in 
its  highest  development,  in  the  philosophers  of  the 
French  revolution,  it  could  lead  to  nothing  but  a  reign 
of  terror.  Under  its  guidance  the  true  light  of  life, 
which  enlightens  every  man  that  comes  into  the 
world,  through  his  conscience,  goes  out ;  and  the 
man  is  damned  continually  to  choose  amiss,  evil  for 
good,  and  thus  to  reduce  himself  more  and  more  to 
the  proneness  of  the  serpent.  All  the  most  acute 
and  subtle  and  scientific  operations  of  his  understand¬ 
ing  are  levied  upon  for  the  attainment  of  the  gratifi¬ 
cations  of  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye 
and  the  pride  of  a  life  independent  of  God.  For 
riches,  honor,  fame,  beauty ;  whatever  can  gratify 
the  appetites,  desires  and  affections ;  whatever  can 
feed  the  pride,  and  exalt  the  wisdom  of  the  earthly 
nature,  he  is  greedy  as  the  serpent.  He  feeds  upon 
the  bread  of  envy,  deceit,  pride,  vanity  and  lust. 
This  is  the  loathsome  food  he  relishes.  His  tastes 
and  miserable  enjoyments  are  only  of  that  which 
pertains  to  this  world,  of  evil.  On  his  belly  he  goes, 
and  eats  dirt  all  the  days  of  his  life. 

Also,  his  mouth  is  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness. 
The  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  tongues.  The 
enmity  of  all  those  who  bear  the  image  of  the  ser- 


168  OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 

pent  against  the  Seed  of  the  woman  is  deadly  and 
implacable.  The  dragon  in  them  makes  war  upon 
all  in  whom  the  Seed  is  found,  and  will  not  be  paci¬ 
fied  but  when  drinking  their  blood.  To  this  let  the 
death  of  Jesus  testify.  To  this  let  the  blood  of  his 
martyrs  witness.  01  this  the  infidelity  of  the  reign 
of  terror  is  a  proof.  “  Crush  the  wretch.”*  This  is 
the  shibboleth  of  the  seed  of  the  serpent  in  their 
warfare  against  the  seed  of  the  woman.  For  this 
“  wretch”  was  none  other  than  he  in  whose  life  and 
sufferings  and  death,  is  seen  nothing  but  meekness 
and  purity  and  love  and  self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of 
others,  even  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

This  is  the  likeness  of  Satan,  the  serpent  in  man, 
whose  head,  in  all  them  that  believe,  is  crushed 
by  Christ  upon  the  cross.  In  order  to  see  that  this 
is  so,  we  must  now  inquire  after  what  manner  it  is 
done. 

The  fundamental  idea  ol  the  Gospel  is  the  doctrine 
of  atonement  or  reconciliation  made  between  God 
and  man  by  the  obedience,  sufferings  and  death  of 
Christ ;  whereby  the  justice  of  God  is  satisfied,  so 
that  he  can  be  just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  him  that 
belie veth  in  Jesus.  This  is  a  stupendous  mystery  to 
all  creature  wisdom,  wholly  insoluble  by  the  rational 
mind  of  man.  The  logical  connection  between  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  satisfaction  of  the  justice 
of  God  for  the  sinner,  cannot  be  traced.  It  defies 

*  These  words  were  written  at  the  close  of  the  letters  of  corres¬ 
pondence  between  Frederick  II.  of  Prussia  and  Voltaire,  to  express 
their  implacable  malignity  against  Christ. 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT.  169 

the  human  understanding.  It  is  announced  to  man 
upon  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  and  he  is 
required  to  believe  it  in  order  to  be  saved. 

Against  the  truth  of  this  declaration  of  God,  the 
wisdom  of  the  serpent  in  man,  the  carnal  mind, 
makes  war  with  all  its  subtlety  and  power,  to  prevent 
it  from  being  believed.  The  weapons  of  its  attack 
aie  such  as  these.  Ought  not  God  to  love  his  own 
Son,  being  innocent  and  pure  and  holy,  better  than 
man  unholy,  polluted  and  rebellious  ?  Is  it  right  that 
he  should  lay  the  sufferings  of  the  guilty  upon  an 
innocent  pei  son  even  though  he,  having  received  the 
command  from  his  father,  be  willing  to  make  the 
sacrifice  ?  If  God  so  loved  man  as  to  provide  a  pro¬ 
pitiation  for  his  sins,  not  even  sparing  his  own  Son 
to  accomplish  this  object,  what  need  of  a  substitute 
at  all  to  piopitiate  him  ?  W^ashenot  already  wholly 
piopitious  to  man,  since  it  is  he  who  so  loves  man  as 
to  find  a  propitiation  for  him,  even  in  the  sacrifice  of 
his  own  Son?  True  and  proper  justice  does  not 
demand  that  the  innocent  should  suffer  in  place  of 
the  guilty.  It  demands  that  the  guilty  should  be 
punished.  How  then  can  the  justice  of  God  be 
satisfied  with  what  justice  does  not  demand  ? 

To  these  and  a  thousand  like  cavils  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  serpent,  it  is  in  vain  to  reply  that  the  justice 
of  God  is  not  satisfied  after  a  true  and  proper  manner, 
but  God’s  violated  law  demands  a  victim  to  honor  it 
in  the  eyes  of  the  universe ;  that  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ  is  designed  merely  as  a  grand  moral  spectacle 
to  impress  upon  all  intelligent  creatures  a  proper 

8 


170  OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 

sense  of  its  authority  and  inviolability.  It  is  m  vain 
to  introduce  here  illustrations  drawn  from  the  imper¬ 
fection  of  human  governments.  These  and  all  such 
views  and  illustrations  are  out  of  place  heie.  Foi 
the  law  of  God  is  the  faithful  transcription,  the  undis¬ 
torted  mirror  of  his  nature  and  attributes.  If  theie- 
fore  there  be  anything  in  his  law  which  demands 
satisfaction  for  sin,  there  must  be  something  in  him 
which  demands  satisfaction  for  sin.  How  can  there 
be  any  feature  in  the  image  and  reflection  which  is 
not  in  that  of  which  it  is  the  image  and  reflection  1 
No  less  in  vain  is  it  to  reply  to  these  cavils,  that 
the  idea  of  justice,  as  it  appears  in  the  consciousness 
of  man,  is  the  abstract  proposition  that  sin  must  be 
punished,  but  that  it  says  not  upon  whom  it  must  be 
punished  ;  whether  upon  the  sinner  or  his  substitute. 
The  consciousness  of  man  does  not  give  abstract 
propositions  at  all.  These  are  reached  by  a  piocess 
of  generalization  or  abstraction.  The  consciousness 
of  man  does  not  say  sin  must  be  punished.  It  utters 
in  tones  of  thunder,  My  sin  must  be  punished  upon 
me.  We  cannot  take  out  of  this  affirmation  one 
part,  and  reason  from  that  as  true,  then  reject  the 
rest.  This  argument  for  the  necessity  of  a  victim  to 
satisfy  the  justice  of  God,  which  is  drawn  from  the 
consciousness  of  man,  as  if  it  declared  the  abstiact 
proposition,  that  sin  must  be  punished,  but  did  not 
say  upon  whom  the  punishment  must  be  inflicted, 
whether  upon  the  innocent  or  the  guilty,  is  peihaps 
the  most  shallow  sophism,  that  was  ever  devised  by 
man  to  reconcile  the  Wisdom  of  God  to  his  own. 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT.  171 

To  reply  with  this  to  the  cavil,  no  less  than  to  reduce 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ  to  a  mere  governmental 
scheme  to  save  the  honor  of  the  law  in  the  eyes  of 
the  moral  universe,  as  if  God’s  law  were  something 
arbitrary,  and  not  the  express  transcript  of  his  nature, 
is  to  answer  the  serpent  with  his  own  subtlety. 
When  the  atonement  of  Christ  is  received  and  be¬ 
lieved  in  for  such  reasons  as  these,  and  would  be 
rejected  if  these  answers  were  not  given,  it  is 
leceived  only  because  it  is  thought  to  commend 
itself  in  the  eyes  of  that  very  sensual  wisdom,  or 
carnal  mind,  which  it  was  given  to  crush. 

The  only  scriptural  answer  to  these  and  all  possi¬ 
ble  cavils  of  the  serpent,  is,  O fool!  who  art  thou  that 
repliest  against  God  ?  This  is  the  thing  which  is 
announced  upon  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God, 
to  be  believed  in  as  truth  because  God  has  said  it. 
The  substitution  of  the  Innocent  in  place  of  the  guilty 
is  foolishness  in  the  eyes  of  man’s  wisdom.  This  is 
the  foolishness  of  the  cross,  which  Paul  was  so  care¬ 
ful  to  preach.  God  has  warned  us  beforehand  that 
it  would  seem  to  be  folly  in  our  eyes ;  not  because 
it  is  folly,  but  because  man’s  wisdom  is  a  fool,  and 
cannot  see  things  aright.  In  itself  it  is  the  Wisdom 
of  God  ;  but  man,  left  to  himself,  is  such  a  fool  that 
what  is  truly  the  highest  wisdom,  even  the  Wisdom 
of  God,  seems  to  be  folly  in  his  eyes.  For  the  folly 
of  God  is  wiser  than  the  wisdom  of  man.  Now  it  is 
evident  that  man,  in  the  fact  of  believing  in  the 
validity  of  the  sufferings  of  the  innocent  Son  of  God, 
for  the  justification  of  the  sinner,  which  is  foolishness 


172 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


to  him,  yet  declared  by  God  as  the  truth,  must 
utterly  renounce  the  validity  of  his  own  wisdom  in 
favor  of  the  Wisdom  of  God.  In  the  fact  of  receiving 
this  as  the  truth  upon  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of 
God,  is  the  wisdom  of  man  in  whose  eyes  it  is  folly, 
confessed  and  felt  to  be  that  which  it  truly  is,  a  fool. 
Confidence  in  it,  as  a  guide  of  choice  between  good 
and  evil,  is  destroyed.  By  receiving  that  as  true, 
which  is  folly  in  its  eyes,  the  carnal  mind,  the  head 
of  the  Serpent  in  man  is  crushed.  The  Wisdom  of 
God  is  submitted  to,  and  felt  to  be  the  only  true  law 
of  distinction  between  good  and  evil. 

A  single  illustration  may  be  here  given.  When 
the  little  child  looks  up  to  the  heavens  above,  if  left 
to  his  own  intelligence,  he  will  be  perfectly  sure  that 
the  sun  moves,  and  the  earth  stands  still.  His  father 
tells  him  that  the  fact  is  not  at  all  as  it  appears  to 
him  ;  but  the  earth  is  turning  round  faster  than  his 
top,  and  the  sun  stands  still.  It  is  foolishness  in  his 
eyes.  He  cannot  yet  receive  any  demonstration  of 
the  truth.  But  he  has  faith  in  his  father,  in  his  truth 
and  wisdom.  He  believes  what  he  is  told  to  be  the 
truth,  although  it  does  not  so  appear  to  him,  because 
his  father  has  told  him  so.  In  the  fact  of  believing 
in  this  truth,  in  opposition  to  wdiat  would  be  his  own 
independent  judgment,  he  renounces  his  own  wisdom, 
and  adopts  that  of  his  father  in  its  place.  He  cannot 
believe  this  without  feeling  that  his  own  view  of 
things,  compared  with  the  wisdom  of  his  father,  is 
folly. 

This  is  the  effect  produced  in  man  by  faith  in  *he 


OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 


173 


atonement  of  Christ,  upon  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom 
of  God.  Because  it  is  opposed  to  his  own  wisdom,  and 
yet  true,  in  believing  it,  he  recovers  that  truth  which 
he  lost  in  the  Fall,  that  his  own  wisdom  is  a  fool ; 
that  God  only  is  wise,  and  therefore  alone  competent 
to  be  to  him  an  adequate  guide  of  choice  in  the  dis¬ 
tinction  between  good  and  evil.  He  therefore  who 
would  explain  away  what  Paul  calls  the  foolishness 
of  the  cross  of  Christ,  which  he  preached  lest  the 
cross  should  be  made  of  more  effect ;  who  would 
commend  it  in  the  eyes  of  human  wisdom,  takes  away 
from  it  all  its  power  to  crush  the  carnal  mind,  the 
head  of  the  Serpent  in  man.  Thus  preached  it  can 
be  neither  stumbling-block  to  the  Jew,  nor  folly  to 
the  Greek  ;  neither  can  it  be  the  Wisdom  of  God  and 
the  power  of  God,  unto  salvation  to  any  sinful  soul. 

This  work  of  the  Seed  of  the  woman  is  now  going 
in  the  world  in  these  last  times .  He  is  crushing  the 
head  of  the  Serpent  in  man,  by  his  Holy  Spirit, 
through  the  faith  of  his  cross.  And  this  shall  go  on, 
whosoever  would  hinder  it,  until  he  send  forth  his 
judgment  unto  victory . 

Thus  is  the  character  and  destiny  of  Satan,  and  of 
his  likeness  in  man,  set  forth  under  this  most  power¬ 
ful  symbol,  appointed  by  God ;  and  which  yet 
remains,  and  shall  remain  before  the  eyes  of  the 
human  race  while  the  sin  of  Adam  is  found  upon  the 
earth. 

Therefore,  wherever  we  behold  this  infamous 
creature,  the  Serpent,  we  are  to  see  reflected  the 
accursed  nature  and  consequences  and  destiny  of 


174  OF  THE  CURSE  UPON  THE  SERPENT. 

subtlety,  the  wisdom  of  the  creature  erected  into 
independence  of,  and  opposition  to  the  Wisdom  of 
God,  as  a  guide  of  choice  between  good  and  evil. 
When  we  consider  the  enmity  between  man  and  the 
snake,  we  are  to  regard  it  as  an  institution  ot  God, 
which  it  is  to  symbolize  and  set  before  our  eyes  the 
enmity  between  God  and  Satan,  and  that  between 
God’s  image  in  man  and  the  carnal  mind.  When  we 
feel  that  peculiar  horror  and  loathing  in  the  presence 
of  the  serpent  which  is  universal,  and  to  be  cheiished 
as  a  divinely  appointed  symbol,  we  are  to  learn  fiom 
that,  with  what  loathing  the  wisdom  of  subtlety  in 
opposition  to  the  Wisdom  ol  God,  is  to  be  legal ded. 
From  the  deadly  sting  of  the  serpent,  we  are  to  know 
the  agonies  of  Christ  for  us ;  and  how  deadly  is  the 
poison  which  the  carnal  mind,  in  its  enmity,  infuses 
into  the  spirit  of  man ;  and  with  what  power  it  cor¬ 
rupts  and  destroys  the  image  ol  God  in  him.  And 
when  we  crush  the  serpent’s  head  we  are  to  behold 
in  that  the  symbol  appointed  by  God  to  keep  before 
our  eyes  the  truth  that  he  does  utterly  crush  this 
earthly  and  sensual  and  devilish  wisdom  in  Satan 
and  in  man,  which,  in  pride  and  folly  and  madness, 
the  creature  has  dared  to  prefer  to  the  Wisdom  of 
God  as  a  guide  and  criterion  of  distinction  between 

good  and  evil.# 

*  The  ancient  Egyptians,  instructed  perhaps  by  the  tradition  ot 
this  account,  symbolized  the  prudential  wisdom  of  man,  with  the 
logical  faculty,  which  reaches  its  conclusions  by  oblique  and  com¬ 
plicated  evolutions  and  involutions  of  thought,  under  the  form  of 
the  serpent  in  motion. 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


175 


\ 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 

“  Unto  the  woman  he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sorrow  and 
thy  conception ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring  forth  children ;  and 
thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over  thee.” 

If  anything  were  wanting  to  demonstrate  that 
what  is  said  in  this  account  of  the  first  man  and 
woman,  is  spoken  of  them  as  types  or  representatives 
of  the  whole  race,  it  is  found  here.  For  this  judg¬ 
ment  pronounced  upon  the  first  woman,  without  any 
intimation  of  its  application  to  any  one  else,  is  found 
to  be,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  judgment  upon  woman 
as  such. 

From  the  foregoing  views,  we  may  perhaps  be 
able  to  understand,  why  the  tempter  addressed  him¬ 
self  first  to  the  woman  rather  than  to  the  man.  For 
it  is  to  be  observed,  that  she  was  beguiled  into  trans¬ 
gression  by  means  of  a  sophism,  which  now  it  is  easy 
to  detect.  It  was  a  petitio  principvi, — a  begging  of 
the  question.  When  the  serpent  advised  her  to  aspire 
after  a  knowledge  which  might  be  to  her  an  indepen¬ 
dent  and  sufficient  guide  of  choice  between  good  and 
evil,  he  admitted,  in  substance,  that  she  was  not  then 
able  to  guide  herself  upon  this  point ;  but  he  insisted 
that,  if  she  would  eat  of  the  forbidden  tree,  that 


176 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


would  open  her  eyes,  so  that  she  would  after  that  be 
as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil.  But  in  order  to  ob¬ 
tain  this  knowledge,  she  must  first  act  upon  the  as¬ 
sumption,  that  she  was  already  able  to  choose  aright 
in  this  case,  when  her  eyes  were  not  yet  opened,  in 
order  to  become  able  to  choose  aright  hereaftei  ; 
that  is  to  say,  she  must  assume  that  her  eyes  were 
already  opened,  in  order  that  they  might  become 
opened.  The  sophism  is  transparent. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  woman  is  by  creation 
inferior,  dependent  upon,  and  in  subjection  to  the 
man,  in  respect  to  the  earthly  nature,  by  which  she  is 
married  to  him.  But  especially  is  she  inferior  to  him 
in  that  sensual  wisdom  which  stands  at  the  head  of 
this  nature,  whose  legitimate  sphere  is  the  knowledge 
of  things  which  pertain  to  the  mortal  life.  When, 
therefore,  the  appeal  is  made  to  this  faculty,  she  is 
more  easily  imposed  upon  than  is  he,  by  such  false 
suggestions  and  sophistical  reasonings  as  the  tempter 
employed. 

And  since  it  was  by  means  of  this  earthly  nature 
in  them  that  the  temptation  must  succeed,  if  at  all, 
since  it  was  its  light  or  wisdom  which  was  to  be 
erected  into  an  independent  guide  of  choice  between 
good  and  evil,  there  was  a  manifest  subtlety  in  ap¬ 
pealing  first  to  it  in  the  woman,  where  it  would  be 
most  easily  imposed  upon  by  false  suggestions  and 
sophistical  reasonings.  Here  he  would  be  most 
likely  to  succeed,  by  drawing  that  wisdom  in  her 
which  was  weaker  than  in  her  husband,  and  made  to 
be  dependent  upon,  and  in  subjection  to  him,  first, 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN.  177 

into  independence  of  and  opposition  to  him,  then,  to 
the  Wisdom  of  God. 

Also,  since  the  subjection  of  the  woman,  in  respect 
to  her  earthly  nature,  to  the  man,  was  one  of  the 
symbols  appointed  by  God  to  reflect  into  their  souls 
their  subjection  to  him,  if  she  could  be  led  to  appeal 
to  this  wisdom  independently  of  her  husband,  this 
symbol  would  be  destroyed,  and  the  truth,  which  it 
was  intended  to  nourish  in  their  hearts,  would  be  left 
without  its  support.  This  symbol  being  violated,  and 
the  woman  seduced,  her  influence  would  be  united 
with  the  wiles  of  the  tempter,  to  accomplish  his  ma¬ 
lignant  designs  upon  the  father  and  head  of  the 
human  race,  and  through  him  upon  all  his  posterity. 

But  if  they  had  continued  in  that  estate  in  which 
they  were  created,  it  is  evident  that  this  subjection  of 
the  earthly  nature  of  the  woman  to  the  man  could 
never  have  been  felt  as  a  burden  or  inconvenience — 
as  anything  else  than  a  blessing,  any  more  than  that 
subjection  of  themselves  to  God,  of  which  it  was  the 
divinely  appointed  symbol,  could  be  felt  as  anything 
else  than  a  blessing.  For  this  nature  in  her  was 
created  inferior  to,  and  necessarily  dependent  upon 
him,  as  they  were  inferior  to,  and  of  necessity  depen¬ 
dent  upon  God.  Also,  while  they  both  remained 
filled  and  informed  with  the  Wisdom  of  God,  as  the 
guide  of  their  life,  the  man  could  not  require  of  the 
woman  anything  but  that  which  was  right,  and  which 
it  would  be  her  dearest  human  happiness  to  perform. 
Nor  could  her  dependence  upon  her  husband  be  felt 

before,  as  it  must  now  be  since  her  sfn.  For  in  their 

8* 


178 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


garden  of  Paradise  she  had  been  surrounded  with  all 
things  which  were  good  for  her.  The  food  of  hei 
mortal  nature  stood  ready  provided  to  her  hand.  She 
needed  none  to  toil  lor  her  support  ;  none  to  defend 
her  from  violence  and  harm.  Her  subjection  to  her 
husband  was  the  blissful  dependence  of  confidence 
and  love ;  the  repose  of  her  earthly  nature  in  his,  as 
they  together  rested,  with  the  'peace  that  passeth  all 
understanding ,  in  God,  the  husband  of  their  spiiitual 
nature. 

But  now  all  things  were  sadly  changed.  For  she 
had  seduced  her  husband  into  transgression,  by  which 
he  had  cast  off  the  only  right  guidance,  that  of  the 
Wisdom  of  God.  She  had  thus  become  the  means  of 
destroying  all  security  for  his  requiring  of  her  only 
what  would  be  right,  and  what  she  would  be  pleased 
to  do.  That  nature  in  which  they  were  one,  whose 
desires  and  affections  had  flowed  so  sweetly  together, 
would  be  one  in  perfection  no  longer.  Its  unity  was 
shattered.  Conflicting  opinions  and  judgments  would 
now  arise  between  them.  Feelings  which  had  moved 
in  unison  and  harmony,  would  jar  in  harsh  discord. 
They  both  had  become  selfish  and  wayward  crea¬ 
tures,  full  of  whim  and  caprice.  He  would  be  tyran¬ 
nical,  jealous  and  cruel.  But  to  his  worst  tyranny, 
to  his  most  unreasonable  ill-treatment,  to  all  his  abuse 
of  her  weakness,  she  must  submit.  For  one  cause 
alone  could  she  be  allowed  to  separate  from  him  du¬ 
ring  her  mortal  life.  And  even  this  greatest  offence 
she  would  often  find  it  easier  to  pass  over,  than  to 
separate  from  him  who  was  the  head  of  her  earthly 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


179 


nature.  Now,  also,  they  were  about  to  be  driven 
forth  into  a  world  cursed  for  their  $ake,  so  that  it 
would  yield  them  a  scanty  and  meagre  subsistence, 
not  until  it  should  be  subdued  by  labor,  to  which  the 
strength  of  the  woman  was  inadequate.  Evil  days 
were  at  hand,  days  of  unbridled  lust  and  bloodshed, 
when  the  whole  earth  should  b q  filled  with  violence. 
If  she  had  been  left  to  her  own  courage  and  hardi¬ 
hood  and  strength,  doubtless  she  would  have  perished^ 
and  with  her  the  human  race. 

Therefore  her  desire  should  be  to  her  husband,  and 
he  should  rule  over  her.  This  expression  is  repeated 
of  Abel  to  his  elder  brother,  Cain.  His  desire  shall 
he  to  thee ,  and  thou  shalt  rule  over  him.  Its  force  is, 
that  Abel  should  feel  his  inferiority  to  his  brother  in 
physical  strength,  in  age,  and  in  the  dignity  ol  his 
birth  ;  should  be  conscious  of  dependence  upon  him, 
and  should  look  to  him  with  desire  for  counsel,  guid¬ 
ance  and  protection :  so  that  Cain,  as  the  inheritor 
of  the  birthright,  and  its  authority  over  the  other 
members  of  the  family,  should  have  the  ascendency 
and  rule  over  him.  So  the  woman  had  reduced  her¬ 
self  to  that  state  in  which  she  needed  one  of  greater 
strength,  and  courage,  and  hardihood,  to  toil  for  her 
support,  to  defend  her  from  violence,  and  to  be  a  guide 
to  her  mortal  life  through  its  pathway  of  thorns  and 
thistles.  She  would  be  forced  to  recognise  and  to 
feel  that  dependence  upon  her  husband  which  she  had 
so  foolishly  violated,  because  now  it  was  necessary 
even  to  the  preservation  of  her  existence.  Now  that 
nature  in  her  by  whose  rebellion  she  had  sinned, 


180 


Of  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


would  be  forced  back  into  a  sense  of  its  inferiority, 
and  into  subjection,  by  the  circumstances  into  which 
she  had  plunged  herself  by  her  sin.  The  responsi¬ 
bility  and  care  of  providing  for  the  mortal  life  ot  them 
both  was  committed  to  the  man,  and  with  it  necessa¬ 
rily  the  right  and  the  duty  of  supervision  and  control. 
Henceforth,  with  desire  must  she  look  to  him  for 
guidance,  defence  and  support,  even  though  his  rule 
over  her  should  be  capricious,  tyrannical  and  cruel. 

Thus  it  is  plain  that,  by  the  sin  of  the  woman,  a 
form  and  significancy  are  given  to  her  subjection 
to  the  man.  In  this  new  form  it  is  not  only  the 
symbol  of  her  subjection  to  God,  but  also  ot  the 
nature  and  consequences  of  her  sin,  and  a  chastise¬ 
ment  of  her  guilt.  That  nature  in  her,  by  whose 
proud  elevation  to  command  where  it  had  nothing  to 
do  but  obey,  she  sinned,  is  now,  by  the  circumstan¬ 
ces  in  which  she  has  placed  hersell,  forced  back  into 
subjection  to  her  husband,  that  thereby  it  may  be 
trained  to  submission  to  the  Wisdom  of  God.  This 
subjection  is  now  a  most  holy  symbol  to  nourish 
penitence  and  humiliation,  and  the  feeling  of  her  de¬ 
pendence  upon  God. 

To  the  influence  of  this  symbol  in  the  long  series 
of  generations,  is  to  be  ascribed  in  a  great  degree, 
the  difference  between  man  and  woman  as  they  are 
now  found,  in  respect  to  susceptibility  of  religious 
impressions.  For  as  the  essence  of  all  sin  against 
God  is  rebellion,  so  the  very  heart  and  substance  of 
true  piety  is  submission — the  perfect  subordination  of 
the  earthly  to  the  spiritual  nature  ;  of  the  spiritual 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


181 


nature  to  the  conscience,  and  of  the  conscience  to 
the  Word  and  Wisdom  of  God,  This  submission  is 
that  of  faith  and  conscious  dependence  in  love  ;  first, 
passively,  to  every,  even  the  least  event  of  life,  re¬ 
garded  as  the  ordination  of  the  wisdom  and  love  of 
God;  and  secondly,  in  an  active  sense,  the  submis¬ 
sion  of  obedience  to  every  command  of  his  law. 
Now  that  nature  in  the  woman  by  whose  rebellion, 
seeking  to  lead  and  command  where  it  had  nothing  to  do 
but  to  follow  and  obey,  she  sinned,  is  forced  back  into 
conscious  dependence  and  submission  to  her  husband. 
This  prefigures  in  her  and  ushers  in,  the  subjection 
of  her  spiritual  nature  to  God,  of  which  it  is  his  ap¬ 
pointed  and  consecrated  symbol.  It  works  in  her 
the  same  effect  which  is  produced  in  the  child  by  his 
subjection  to  the  authority  of  his  parents.  It  is  to 
her  what  the  law  of  Moses  was  to  the  sincere  and 
obedient  Israelite — it  is  her  schoolmaster  to  lead 
her  to  Christ.  Thus  as  a  little  child  brought  up  in 
obedience  and  subjection,  she  is  led  by  the  Lord 
into  his  kingdom,  more  readily,  and  with  less  resist¬ 
ance,  than  is  man. 

For  man  has  this  holy  symbol  before  him,  but  not 
in  him.  He  beholds  it,  but  does  not  feel  its  chastis¬ 
ing  and  subduing  power.  There  is  none  in  this 
world  to  whom  his  earthly  nature,  with  the  pride  of 
its  strength  and  wisdom,  is  forced  into  subjection. 
Therefore  it  has  unfolded  itself  in  him  with  ranker 
luxuriance  than  in  woman.  The  mind  in  him  has  be¬ 
come  so  puffed  up  with  the  pride  and  conceit  of  its 
success  in  the  sciences  that  pertain  to  this  life,  that  it 


182 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


obstinately  refuses  to  stoop  to  the  humiliating  sub¬ 
mission  of  the  gospel.  It  cannot  consent  to  account 
itself  a  fool  that  it  may  be  filled  with  the  authority  of 
the  Wisdom  of  God.  It  has  thus  attained  a  more 
formidable  development  in  man  than  in  woman.  It 
has  even  reached  that  monstrous  arrogance  that  he 
undertakes  to  explain  and  give  account  of  her  greater 
susceptibility  of  religious  impressions,  by  her  inferi¬ 
ority  to  him — inferiority  only  in  that  which  is  earthly 
and  mortal,  and  in  that  wisdom  which  is  conversant 
only  with  the  things  that  perish.  Inferior  in  all  this 
indeed  she  is ;  but  in  that  charity  which  never  fail- 
eth  ;  in  that  which  is  meek  and  humble  and  self- 
sacrifising  and  submissive  to  God  ;  which  is  capable 
of  conscious  dependence  upon,  and  obedience  to  him, 
in  love,  woman,  as  she  is  now  found,  is  immeasura¬ 
bly  superior  to  man.  Most  blessed  has  this  subjec¬ 
tion  of  the  woman  proved  to  her  spiritual  well-being. 

We  must  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  infliction 
upon  the  woman  for  her  sin,  of  pain  and  sorrow  in 
child-bearing.  This  also  has  an  immediate  connec¬ 
tion  with,  and  relation  to  the  nature  of  her  sin.  For 
she  had  sinned  by  the  elevation  of  her  sensual  nature 
with  its  wisdom  over  the  spiritual  in  her,  and  over  its 
informing  light,  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God. 
For  the  gratification  of  the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the 
1  ust  of  the  eye,  and  the  desire  to  be  wise  in  a  sense 
in  which  she  was  not  already  wise,  she  had  not  scru¬ 
pled  to  rebel  against  the  authority  of  the  clearly 
enunciated  law  of  God,  revealed  from  without  and 
within.  And  now  was  attached  to  the  gratification 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


183 


of  those  feelings  in  her  in  which  the  whole  force  of 
the  sensual  nature  is  summed  up  and  concentrated, 
the  most  terrible  pain  and  anguish  and  sorrow  which 
she  could  suffer  and  yet  live.  Thus  she  received  in 
that  nature  by  which  she  had  been  led  to  transgress, 
a  terrible  memorial  and  symbol  of  the  nature  and 
consequences  of  her  sin,  to  reflect  into  her  soul  the 
knowledge  and  conviction  of  the  sin  itself,  and  also 
of  the  fearful  spiritual  chastisement  to  which  she  had 
subjected  herself,  that  she  might  go  in  penitence  and 
humiliation  all  her  days. 

This  institution  of  God  set  up  in  the  bosom  of  daily 
life,  for  the  most  holy  purposes,  the  ingenuity  and 
folly  of  men  have  been  able  neither  to  destroy  nor 
corrupt.  It  remains  universal  as  the  race,  and  as  the 
sin  of  man ;  modified  only  by  the  degree  of  the 
strength  in  which  the  sin  which  is  after  the  simili¬ 
tude  of  Adam’s  transgression ,  is  found.  For  among 
savages  and  the  most  degraded  of  the  human  race, 
who  have  no  clearly  enunciated  law  of  right  and 
wrong  revealed  from  without  or  within ;  whose  sin, 
therefore,  against  such  a  law  cannot  be  clear  and 
precise  and  conscious,  the  pains  and  sorrows  of  child¬ 
bearing  are  very  light.  Their  sin  after  the  simili¬ 
tude  of  Adam’s  transgression,  the  preference  of  their 
own  wisdom  over  the  clearly  enunciated  and  recog¬ 
nised  Wisdom  of  God,  is  ill  defined.  Therefore  the 
symbol  of  this  sin  has  not  assumed  that  terrible 
form  and  power  among  them  which  it  has  among 
civilized  nations.  When  the  commandment  shall 
come  to  them  sin  shall  revive  ;  and  this  symbol  of  its 


184  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 

nature  and  consequences  shall  assume  that  fearful 
form  which  it  has  wherever  there  is  rebellion  against 
the  known  law.  The  luxury  with  other  means  by 
which  this  judgment  is  executed,  is  not  here  left  out 
of  view.  For  luxury  itself,  enervating  the  physical 
constitution,  is  one  of  the  clearest  and  strongest 
manifestations  of  rebellion  against  the  known  law ; 
since  it  is  not  possible  except  where  man  has  brought 
his  mind  with  all  its  powers  into  subservience  to  the 
gratification  of  the  desires  of  the  sensual  nature  ; 
that  is  to  say,  among  civilized,  reflecting  and  enlight¬ 
ened  nations.  For  among  these  the  law  of  right  and 
wrong,  however  it  may  be  rebelled  against,  is  always 
clearest  and  most  precise. 

To  him  who  looks  upon  all  things  in  the  light  of 
the  Word  and  Wisdom  of  God,  this  judgment  upon 
the  woman  is  a  most  solemn  and  holy  thing.  For 
since  it  was  instituted  by  God  as  a  memorial  of  the 
nature  and  punishment  of  sin,  as  such  it  is  always 
regarded  and  treated  in  the  Scriptures.  For  this 
purpose  it  is  used  with  a  frequency  and  emphasis 
second  only  to  death  itself.  Whether  it  be  the 
penalty  of  sin  laid  upon  Christ,  through  whose  suffer¬ 
ings  the  new  man  is  born  into  the  kingdom,  or  that 
inflicted  upon  the  sinner  himself,  the  judgment  of 
God  is  continually  set  forth  under  this  powerful 
symbol. 

For,  although  the  sinner  may  long  pursue  with 
seeming  impunity  the  objects  of  the  desires  of  his 
own  heart ;  though  the  pleasure  of  the  gratification 
of  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


185 


the  pride  of  life,  may  be  keen  and  transporting  for 
the  moment,  causing  him  utterly  to  forget  the  law  of 
his  God,  and  to  lose  the  conscience  of  sin ,  for  the 
time ;  though  the  evil  consequences  of  sin  may  be 
long  deferred,  they  are  inevitable — a  judgment  cer¬ 
tain  to  come.  They  shall  come  upon  him  in  a  mo¬ 
ment  when  he  is  in  perfect  fancied  security,  suddenly; 
with  such  surprising  and  terrible  power,  that  all  the 
fleeting  pleasure  of  sin  shall  be  swallowed  up,  and 
no  more  remembered,  except  with  pain  and  anguish 
and  sorrow.  They  shall  he  afraid ;  pangs  and  sor¬ 
row  shall  take  hold  upon  them:  they  shall  he  in  pain 
as  a  woman  that  travaileth.  When  they  shall  say , 
peace  and  safety ,  then  sudden  destruction  cometh  upon 
them  as  travail  upon  a  woman  with  child ;  and  they 
shall  not  escape. 

Also,  under  this  symbol  the  doctrine  of  the  birth 
of  the  soul  into  the  kingdom  of  God  through  the  suf¬ 
ferings  of  Christ,  is  continually  set  forth.  Verily  I 
say  unto  thee ,  except  a  man  he  horn  again  he  cannot 
see  the  kingdom  of  God.  ...  He  shall  see  of  the  travail 
of  his  soul  and  he  satisfied.  In  these  and  a  great 
multitude  of  kindred  passages,  the  relation  which  the 
son  of  God  bears  to  the  redeemed,  for  whose  sins  he 
suffered  the  judgment  of  God,  is  symbolized,  and 
shadowed  down  to  man  under  the  relation  which 
the  human  mother  bears  to  her  children,  who  are 
born  not  otherwise  than  through  her  pangs. 

This  institution  of  God  it  is  which  perhaps,  more 
than  anything  else,  rebukes  the  unspiritual  and  un¬ 
circumcised  mind  of  man,  so  prone  to  cavil  at  the 


186  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 

doctrine  of  the  Word,  that  he  must  be  born  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  into  eternal  life,  through  the  suffer¬ 
ings  of  another.  It  speaks  to  all  who  have  ears  to 
hear,  as  with  the  voice  of  God  from  heaven,  conde¬ 
scending  to  reason  with  them.  Do  you  not  see  that 
the  child  of  human  parents  comes  into  the  world 
only  through  pangs  and  sorrows  ?  Gan  you  think 
that  I  have  ordained  this  wonderful  fact  for  nothing  ? 
Can  you  not  learn  from  it  to  put  to  silence  the  ob- 
.  jections  of  your  foolish  mind  against  the  declaration 
of  my  Wisdom,  that  the  spiritual  children  of  the 
Redeemer,  the  receivers  of  his  life,  and  the  heirs  of 
his  glory,  can  be  born  only  through  the  sufferings  of 
him  who  is  both  father  and  mother  in  one  ? 

Also  under  this  symbol  is  set  forth  the  joy  of 
Christ,  for  which  he  endured  the  cross ,  despising  the 
shame.  For,  as  the  woman  remembereth  no  more  the 
anguish  for  joy  that  a  man  child  is  born  into  the 
world,  so  he  sees  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  is 
satisfied.  Willingly  he  bears  the  sufferings  which 
are  laid  upon  him  that  he  may  bring  forth  into  a 
new  life  his  heir,  the  human  spirit,  and  introduce  it 
into  the  inheritance  of  God.  In  this  his  joy  is  above 
every  joy,  as  for  it  he  has  received  a  name  above 
which  is  every  name;  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every 
knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in 
earth,  and  things  under  the  earth. 

The  influence  of  this  institution  in  purifying  the 
heart  of  the  woman  has  not  been  less  than  that  of 
her  subjection  to  her  husband  in  rendering  her  sus¬ 
ceptible  of  religious  impressions.  For  the  terrible 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


187 


pain  and  anguish  and  sorrow  inflicted  upon  her  sen¬ 
sual  nature  in  child-bearing,  could  not  pass  without 
great  effects.  The  impression  which  the  experience 
of  this  judgment  makes  upon  the  mother,  is  of  ne¬ 
cessity  imparted  to  the  daughter  by  the  silent  yet 
irresistible  intercommunion  of  life.  From  genera¬ 
tion  to  generation,  and  from  age  to  age,  it  has  not 
ceased  to  work  upon  the  female  heart  and  mind ; 
until  it  has  come  to  stand  before  woman,  as  such, 
like  a  terrible  phantom.  It  rises  before  her  with 
every  temptation,  and  threatens  her  with  mysterious 
and  awful  premonitions.  Hence  where  man  aban¬ 
dons  himself,  woman  shrinks  and  trembles  before 
the  dark  future.  This  has  always  been  a  purifying 
influence  upon  her  heart  and  feeling,  which  he  has 
not.  Under  its  power  she  has  become  more  pure 
of  heart  than  is  he.  The  worldling,  or  the  debau¬ 
chee,  who  knows  her  only  from  those  whom  the 
corruption  of  man  has  reduced  to  the  lowest  de¬ 
gradation,  and  who  looks  at  even  these  through  his 
own  vile  affections,  may  sneer  and  mock  as  much 
as  he  pleases — it  is  true  that  there  is  no  comparison 
between  man  and  woman  as  such,  in  respect  to 
purity  of  heart.  Woe  for  the  human  race  if  this 
had  not  been  so  !  If  man  had  found  no  obstacle  to 
his  lust  in  the  repelling  and  subduing  purity  of 
woman’s  heart ;  if  he  had  not  been  constantly  drink¬ 
ing  at  the  fountain  of  the  love  of  a  mother,  a  sister, 
a  wife,  a  daughter ;  and  had  not  been  purified  by 
these  influences,  the  human  race  would  have  sunk 
long  ago  into  irredeemable  corruption  and  ruin. 


188 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN. 


The  woman  was  first  in  the  transgression,  and 
seduced  her  husband  to  take  part  with  her  in  oppo¬ 
sition  to  the  Wisdom  and  love  of  God,  therefore,  in 
addition  to  those  chastisements  which  follow,  and 
which  are  included  under  the  judgment  upon  man, 
these  two  chastising  memorials  and  symbols  of  the  na¬ 
ture  and  consequences  of  sin,  are  inflicted  upon  her, 
and  set  up  in  her  earthly  nature.  Under  their  powerful 
influence,  she  has  become  more  meek  and  submis¬ 
sive,  more  susceptible  of  everything  pure  and  beau¬ 
tiful  and  holy,  than  is  man.  It  is  not  her  vocation 
to  explain  the  gospel  to  him  in  words  and  ideas. 
He  is  more  capable  of  thought  than  is  she.  To  him 
religion  is  often  but  a  thought.  He  seeks  to  be  saved 
by  thinking.  He  mistakes  to  know  for  to  be  ;  science 
for  life.  He  would  rather  understand  the  gospel 
than  submit  his  understanding  to  it.  He  continually 
seeks  to  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God 
or  not  first,  in  order  that  afterwards  he  may  do  it. 
But  too  often  he  loses  the  force  of  those  words  of 
him  who  only  knew;  If  ye  will  {first)  do  the  will  of 
my  Father ,  then  shall  ye  know  of  the  doctrine ,  whether 
it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself.  For  faith 
in  Christ  personally,  and  the  obedience  of  faith,  the 
faith  of  the  little  child  in  his  father,  must  precede 
sight,  or  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  the  clearness 
and  demonstration  of  ideas. 

But  with  woman  it  is  different.  She  can  believe  in 
Christ,  personally ,as  a  little  child  in  its  father,  when  as 
yet  her  ideas  of  the  doctrines  he  has  taught  are  but  ob¬ 
scure.  She  can  submit  her  mind  unto  him  implicitly 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  WOMAN.  189 

with  less  resistance  than  man.  She  feels  more 
vividly  than  does  he.  To  her  the  Gospel  is  a  life 
rather  than  a  thought.  She  has  been  trained  to  sub¬ 
mission,  and  her  heart  prepared  to  behold  the  beauty 
and  glory  of  the  purity  of  Christ,  by  the  chastening 
power  of  these  symbols  set  up  by  God  in  her  nature. 
Hence  by  her  union  with  man,  as  once  she  led  him 
into  rebellion,  now  she  leads  him  back  to  submission. 
By  the  powerful  communion  of  life  she  continually 
informs  him  with  her  own  meek  and  submissive  and 
obedient  spirit.  She  sheds  upon  his  heart  a  light 
higher  than  that  of  knowledge,  the  light  of  love. 
She  breathes  into  him  something  of  that  purity  of 
heart,  which  she  so  much  more  readily  receives  from 
God  than  does  he. 

It  was  a  woman  who  first  recognised  the  mission 
of  Jesus.  Women  were  his  most  faithful  followers 
and  ministers  through  life.  A  woman  was  last  at 
his  cross,  and  first  at  his  sepulchre.  To  a  woman 
he  first  showed  himself  after  his  resurrection.  As 
through  her,  the  evil  came,  so  through  her  alone  re¬ 
demption  comes  into  the  world.  It  is  the  Seed  of 
the  woman  who  alone  can  crush  the  Serpent’s  head. 
The  immaculate  Redeemer  was  born  of  a  woman,  but 
owns  no  human  father. 


190 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 

“  And  unto  the  man  he  said,  Because  thou  hast  hearkened  to  the 
voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree  of  which  I  com¬ 
manded  thee,  saying,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it,  cursed  is  the  ground 
for  thy  sake ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy 
life.  Thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and 
thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  to  the  ground ;  for  out  of  it 
wast  thou  taken  :  for  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  re¬ 
turn,” 

The  reason  given  for  this  judgment  upon  man, 
Because  thou  hast  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  thy  wife , 
would  seem  to  exclude  woman  from  its  effects.  But 
this  is  only  an  appearance.  For,  we  have  seen  that 
man,  in  following  the  guidance  and  counsel  of  the 
woman,  to  whom  he  was  united  by  the  bond  of  the 
earthly  nature,  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  the 
affections  of  that  nature  in  opposition  to  the  authority 
of  the  Wisdom  of  God.  His  sin  therefore  was  the 
same,  in  the  substance  of  it,  with  hers  ;  for  which 
this  judgment  is  pronounced  upon  both.  This  is  evi¬ 
dent  from  the  fact  that  the  woman,  no  less  than  the 
man,  suffers  the  evils  which  it  describes.  It  is  the 
chastisement  upon  man  as  such ;  that  is  to  say,  upon 
humanity  ;  of  which  every  human  being  is  the  heir. 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


191 


In  order  the  better  to  comprehend  its  significancy 
and  object,  we  must  observe  that  the  spiritual  evils, 
the  loss  ol  spiritual  life,  of  the  death  in  trespasses 
and  in  sins,  of  barrenness  of  good  and  fertility  of 
evil,  man  brought  upon  himself  by  his  own  foolish 
and  wicked  act  of  rebellion  against  the  authority  of 
the  Wisdom  of  God,  whereby  he  cast  off  the  only 
sufficient  guide  of  choice  between  good  and  evil ; 
and  separated  himself  from  God,  as  a  branch  from 
its  parent  root  and  stem.  These  evils,  really  and 
truly  the  judicial  penalty  of  his  sin,  were  none  the 
less  the  inevitable  consequences  of  his  own  act.  But 
the  design  of  God  to  save  man  from  this  penalty, 
was  announced  to  him  as  soon  as  he  had  sinned,  in 
the  promise  that  the  Seed  of  the  woman  should  crush 
the  head  of  the  serpent.  In  order  that  this  promise 
of  salvation  from  sin  should  be  fulfilled  in  man,  it 
was  necessary  that  he  should  not  lose  the  feeling  of 
deprivation  and  want ;  that  the  knowledge  and  con¬ 
viction  of  the  nature  and  consequences  of  his  sin, 
with  the  feeling  of  its  guilt,  should  not  perish  out  of 
his  heart.  And  in  order  that  these  should  be  kept 
fresh  and  living  within  him,  he  needed  of  them  an 
outward  reflection  and  symbol,  as  we  need  the  sacra¬ 
ment  of  baptism  to  nourish  in  our  minds  and  hearts 
the  knowledge  and  conviction  of  our  spiritual  defile¬ 
ment.  God  did  not  deny  him  that  which  now,  in  his 
fallen  state,  was  necessary  for  his  salvation.  The 
earth  became  barren  of  good,  and  fruitful  of  evil,  and 
his  own  earthly  nature  by  which  he  had  been  seduced 
into  sin,  was  subjected  to  toil  and  sorrow  and  death. 


192  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 

In  respect  to  the  curse  upon  the  ground  for  man’s 
sake,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  country  in 
which  the  garden  of  Paradise  was  situated  is  called 
a  land  of  Delight.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  this 
land,  so  described,  as  full  of  thorns  and  thistles,  of 
noxious  and  poisonous  herbs,  before  the  sin  of  man. 

It  would  seem  that  in  such  a  land  tempests  and  hurri¬ 
canes  and  destroying  lightning  would  not  lavage  the 
beauties  of  nature.  This  description  would  seem  to 
forbid  us  to  conceive  of  the  brute  world  in  continual 
and  deadly  war — the  lion  tearing  the  kid,  the  wolf 
drinking  the  blood  of  the  lamb— before  the  creature 
had  become  subject  to  vanity  through  the  sin  of  man. 

Also,  it  is  most  certain  that  there  is  a  correspon¬ 
dency*  between  the  unseen  and  spiritual  world,  and 

*  The  “doctrine  of  correspondences,”  between  things  in  heaven 
and  things  on  earth,  is  a  great  point  with  the  Swedenborgians.  It 
was  known,  they  tell  us,  to  the  most  ancient  church,  but  afterwards 
lost,  and  for  the  re-revelation  of  it  they  honor  their  head  and  founder 
as  an  inspired  man.  He  saw  sheep  and  lambs  in  heaven  ;  wolves 
and  serpents  in  hell.  Now,  some  of  these  people  are  called  scholars. 
They  ought  to  know  that  these  vagaries  are  the  most  gross  and  mate¬ 
rial  burlesque  of  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  Platonic  philosophy. 
The  doctrine  of  eternal  and  essential  “ideas,”  the  types  and  sub¬ 
stance  of  all  things  that  “  do  appear,”  to  the  knowledge  of  which 
Plato  tried  to  soar,  and  thence  to  descend  to  a  perfect  science  of  all 
things  earthly,  includes  the  whole  of  that  correspondence  between 
things  above  and  things  below,  which  is  ascribed  to  the  great  North¬ 
ern  dreamer  as  a  divine  revelation,  and  is  without  his  absurdities. 
Nor  was  this  at  all  original  with  the  Greek  philosopher.  It  has  been 
known  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  It  is  set  forth  in  the  saci  ed 
books  of  the  Hindoo  Bramins,  in  all  its  profundity,  though  not  with 
that  logical  precision  and  beauty  which  it  could  not  receive  except 
from  the  mind  of  a  Greek. 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


198 


the  things  which  do  appear.  The  whole  visible  crea¬ 
tion  must  be,  in  some  sort,  an  image  of  the  spiritual 
world,  otherwise  it  could  not  be  a  manifestation  of  the 
glory  of  God.  There  must  be  a  reflection  of  spiritual 
things  in  the  things  that  are  made,  else  these  could 
not  serve  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  continually 
used  in  the  Scripture  to  express  and  declare  spiritual 
truths.  If  this  were  not  so,  the  expressions,  God  is 
light ,  God  is  love,  and  indeed  the  whole  Scripture, 
could  have  no  meaning  for  us.  The  patterns  of  all 
things  belonging  to  the  tabernacle  of  this  earth  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  mount  of  the  Lord. 

So,  also,  there  is  a  correspondence  between  the 
higher  and  lower  grades  of  the  things  that  are  made, 
between  that  which  is  in  man  on  the  one  hand,  and 
that  which  is  in  the  brute  and  in  nature,  on  the  other. 
This  is  everywhere  assumed  in  the  Scriptures,  and 
often  described.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
nakedness  of  man’s  body  was  the  s^nbol  of  his  inno¬ 
cence  ;  that  he  had  nothing  within  which  needed  to 
be  covered  from  the  eye  of  God,  and  that  the  garden 
of  Paradise  corresponded  to  his  inward  life.  So  now 
his  naked  body  must  be  clothed,  because  his  soul  needs 
robes  of  righteousness.  So  now  thorns  and  thistles 
correspond  without  to  the  spiritual  state  to  which  he 
has  reduced  himself.  Also,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that 
the  flood  was  in  waiting  when  the  earth  had  become 
so  filled  and  polluted  with  violence  that  it  must  be 
purified  by  the  waters  of  a  deluge,  destroying  the 
guilty  race.  The  rainbow*  is  first  mentioned  when 

*  The  difficulty  which  arises  from  the  manner  in  which  the  rain- 

9 


194  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 

it  was  needed  for  the  symbol  of  the  new  covenant, 
which  God  would  make  with  the  newly  baptized  hu- 

bow  is  first  mentioned  in  Scripture,  may  be  removed,  if  we  conceive 
of  the  earth  before  the  flood  as  imperfectly  drained.  It  is  a  matter 
of  fact,  that  the  process  of  draining,  by  which  God  gathers  t  le  wafers 
together  into  one  place,  and  causes  the  dry  land  to  appear,  is  now 
g0ing  on  in  manv  parts  of  the  earth,  as  truly  as  of  old.  The  whole 
of  what  is  called  the  Lake  country  of  North  America,  was,  at  a  com- 
paratively  late  date,  under  water.  One  day  those  lakes  must  be 
drained  off,  and  their  bottoms,  except  where  they  are  on  a  level  wit 
the  ocean,  or  shut  in  by  impassable  barriers,  will  be,  like  the  sur¬ 
rounding  country,  covered  with  cornfields.  While  this  process  was 
so  new  as  we  may  conceive  it  to  have  been  before  the  flood,  rain 
was  not  wanted,  because  a  mist  would  go  up  from  the  moist  eart 
and  water  the  whole  face  of  the  ground.  This  is  the  case  even  yet 
with  those  parts  of  the  earth  which  have  been  most  lately  drained, 
which  scarcely  suffer  at  all  when  the  rain  does  not  fall  for  many 
months.  Also,  during  this  period,  rain  would  be  impossible ;  tor, 
in  order  to  its  production,  the  water  must  be  well  drained  off  from 
the  earth,  and  gathered  together  into  immense  bodies,  upon  whose 
surface  the  heat  of  the  sun  may  act  to  produce  by  evaporation  those 
dense  masses  of  watering  vapor,  whose  condensation  waters  the 
thirsty  ground.  But  not  until  the  formation  of  these  dark  clouds, 
could  the  bow  in  the  heavens  be  reflected  in  any  precise  form. 

What  confirms  this  view  is,  that  the  elephant,  the  hippopotamus, 
the  tapir,  the  alligator,  and  animals  of  the  same  sort,  the  living  but 
degenerate  representatives  of  that  huge,  informe  animal  world  whose 
fossil  remains  are  found  in  the  bones  of  the  mammoth,  the  great 
saurians,  and  the  like,  are  all  lovers  of  the  marshy  and  imperfectly 
drained  portions  of  the  earth.  From  this  it  would  appear,  that  when 
the  earth  was  inhabited  by  this  sort  of  creatures,  in  numbers  and 
species  so  much  greater  than  now,  it  must  have  been  less  perfectly 
drained  than  now.  During  this  period,  also,  the  animal  part  of 
man,  after  he  had  been  driven  forth  from  Paradise,  the  high  and 
drained  situation  of  which  is  demonstrated  by  the  mention  of  four 
great  rivers  which  had  their  source  in  the  garden,  might  naturally 
partake  to  some  degree  of  this  informe  and  gigantic  character. 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


195 


man  race,  in  the  person  of  Noah — the  type  of  the 
regenerated  soul.  According  to  the  predictions  of  the 
prophets,  as  it  would  seem,  the  perfect  renovation  of 
the  life  of  man  will  be  reflected  in  the  natural  world. 
This  new  life  demands,  as  its  appropriate  outward 
environment,  that  new  heaven  and  new  earth  which 
John  saw  in  beatific  vision. 

Also,  there  may  be  a  connection  between  man  and 
the  natural  world  of  the  most  vital  kind,  which,  like 
everything  else  pertaining  to  life,  must  be  wrapped 
up  in  inscrutable  mystery.  For  the  life  which  is  in 
the  brute  is  evidently  affected  and  modified  in  the 
most  powerful  manner,  by  that  which  is  in  man. 
Perhaps  there  is  a  point  where  that  nature  in  man 
which  is  of  the  earth ,  earthy ,  centres  in  unity  with 
that  of  the  animal  creation,  and  through  it,  with  the 
whole  natural  world  :  so  that  the  creature  becomes, 
of  necessity,  a  partaker  of  man’s  good  and  evil.  If 

Therefore  the  Scriptures,  with  all  the  earliest  traditions  of  the 
human  race,  speak  of  giants. 

But  when  the  earth  became  so  much  drained  as  to  need  rain,  and 
by  consequence,  the  water  was  gathered  together  into  oceans,  the 
sun’s  rays,  acting  upon  their  surface,  would  produce  by  evaporation 
those  dark  and  heavy  masses  of  vapor  which  condensed  become 
rain.  Hence  both  the  rain  and  the  rainbow  are  first  mentioned  at 
the  flood.  As  man  first  felt  the  shame  of  his  naked  body  after  he 
had  sinned,  as  thorns  and  thistles  then  first  made  their  appearance, 
as  the  flood  waited  to  purify  the  polluted  earth  when  it  needed  it, 
so,  when  an  outward  symbol  for  a  new  order  of  inward  and  spiritual 
things  was  needed,  the  rainbow  came  out  to  serve  that  purpose  ;  and 
all  in  virtue  of  the  harmony  and  correspondence  which  is  ordained 
of  God,  between  the  outward  and  inward,  the  visible  and  invisible, 
the  natural  and  spiritual  worlds. 


196 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


this  were  so,  those  symbols  of  universal  righteousness 
and  peace  and  love,  which  are  drawn  by  the  prophets 
from  the  brute  world,  renovated,  and  restored  to  or¬ 
der  and  harmony,  would  become  most  expressive. 
If  this  were  so,  it  would  clear  up  those  woi  so 
Paul,  so  hard  to  be  understood,  in  which  he  speaks  o 
the  subjection  of  the  creature  to  vanity,  for  the  sin  ol 
man  ;  and  destined  with  him  unto  redemption,  tor 
the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth for  the 
manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.  For  the  creature 
was  made  subject  unto  vanity  not  willingly,  tor 
the  creature  itself  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage 
of  corruption,  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 

of  God. 

However  these  things  may  be  (and  they  are  not 
presented  here  as  interpretations  of  the  Word  of  God, 
nor  as  matters  of  science),  it  is  certain  that,  as  the 
garden  of  Paradise  had  been  the  appropriate  envi¬ 
ronment  and  symbol  of  man’s  innocent  and  happy 
life,  and  was  even  necessary  for  its  perfection  and 
preservation,  so,  now  that  he  had  sinned,  God  saw 
fit  to  place  him  in  a  new  and  very  different  outwai 
sphere.  Therefore  he  sent  him  forth  into  a  world 
cursed  for  his  sake,  under  which  curse  it  became  the 
most  significant  reflection  and  symbol  of  the  evils  of 
that  spiritual  degradation  into  which  he  had  plunged 
himself.  Evil  had  entered  into  him  in  whom  were 
summed  up  all  the  perfections  of  the  creation ;  that 
evil  was  now  reflected  in  the  creation  itself.  The 
eye  of  the  creature  was  diseased,  and  the  body  be¬ 
came  blinded.  The  head,  the  heart,  of  the  creation 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


197 


was  sick,  and  all  the  members  suffered  with  it.  He 
had  subjected  himself  to  the  bondage  of  corruption 
and  to  vanity ;  the  things  which  were  made  for  him, 
were  subjected  to  the  bondage  of  corruption  and  to 
vanity  with  him.  Selfishness  had  now  become  the 
mode  of  his  being ;  selfishness  was  reflected  in  the 
world  which  depended  upon  him.  He  had  aspired 
to  independence  of  God,  had  set  up  his  own  wis¬ 
dom  and  will  in  opposition  to  the  Wisdom  and  will 
of  God,  and  thus  destroyed  his  harmony  with 
the  world  above  him.  The  world  below  him,  over 
which  he  was  made  to  rule,  now  aspired  to  indepen¬ 
dence  of  him,  set  up,  so  to  speak,  its  own  wisdom 
and  will  in  opposition  to  his,  and  thus  destroyed  its 
harmony  with  him.  He  had  rebelled  against  God  ; 
the  creature  rebelled  against  him.  He  had  become 
the  enemy  of  God  ;  all  things  subject  to  him  became 
his  enemy.  Henceforth  storms  and  tempests,  brutes 
and  reptiles  should  seek  to  dethrone  him,  as  he  had 
sought  to  dethrone  God.  He  must  rule  by  his  greater 
power,  as  God  maintained  his  throne  because  the 
weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  man .  He  had  re¬ 
fused  to  render  to  God  the  fruit  of  his  spirit ;  the 
earth  now  refused  to  render  to  him  the  fruit  of  her 
increase.  He  now,  as  God’s  husbandry ,  required  to 
be  worked,  broken  up  with  affliction  and  sorrow,  and 
fertilized  with  the  seed  of  divine  life  communicated 
to  him  anew,  before  he  would  yield  fruit  unto  God ; 
so  now  the  earth  must  be  broken  up  and  tilled,  and 
fertilized  ;  the  seed  planted,  watered  and  tended  with 
unceasing  toil  and  care,  before  she  would  yield  her 
fruits  unto  him.  Left  to  his  own  native  tendencies 


198 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


and  powers,  to  his  own  wisdom,  choice  and  will,  he 
would  now  bring  forth  only  evil,  that  which  was 
worthy  in  the  sight  of  God  to  be  burned  ;  so  now  the 
earth  of  her  own  will,  should  bring  forth  unto  him 
thorns  and  thistles  which  men  gather ,  and  they  are 
burned. 

Thus  the  evil  which  is  in  nature  and  the  brute 
in  their  relations  to  man,  became  the  most  vivid 
reflection  and  symbol  of  the  evil  in  him,  in  his  rela¬ 
tions  to  God.  As  such  this  evil  is  always  assumed 
and  treated  in  the  Scripture.  The  parable  of  the 
sower,  that  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  and  others, 
are  founded  upon  the  assumption  that  in  the  eaith  s 
barrenness  of  good  and  fertility  of  evil  there  is  a 
reflection  of  the  evil  that  is  in  man.  When  therefore 
we  consider  that  this  curse  was  inflicted  upon  the 
earth  for  man’s  sin,  and  that,  when  God  makes  one 
thing  like  another,  he  does  it  with  design,  it  is  mani¬ 
fest  that  man  is  intended  to  find  in  this  curse  upon 
the  earth,  a  symbol  of  his  own  barrenness  of  good 
and  fertility  of  evil ;  that  the  knowledge  of  his  spi¬ 
ritual  desolation  may  be  kept  ever  befoie  his  eyes, 
and  reflected  into  his  soul.  Blinded  by  the  delusive 
light  of  the  carnal  mind,  confused  by  the  babble  of 
science  about  natural  laws,  he  may  cease  to  feel  the 
power  of  this  symbol ;  still  it  remains,  and  shall 
remain,  while  the  sin  of  Adam  is  found  upon  the 
earth,  as  an  institution  of  God  for  the  instruction  of 
a  sinful  race. 

The  curse  of  barrenness  upon  the  ground  for  man’s 
sake,  was  the  necessary  condition  of  the  chastise- 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


199 


ment  of  toil,  both  of  body  and  mind,  upon  himself. 
This  made  constant  prudence,  vigilance,  and  thought, 
with  the  labor  of  his  hands,  indispensable  to  his  con¬ 
tinued  existence. 

Also,  the  necessity  of  labor  arose  directly  out  of 
the  sin  which  he  had  committed.  For,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  had  adopted  a  guide  of  life  wholly  inade¬ 
quate  to  be  to  him  a  correct  criterion  of  choice  be¬ 
tween  good  and  evil.  Following  it  he  must  continu¬ 
ally  choose  amiss,  evil  for  good.  Flence  what  he 
chooses  and  follows,  as  good,  utterly  fails  to  satisfy 
him ;  and  he  is  continually  tormented  with  a  feeling 
of  emptiness  and  want.  This  craving  of  which  none 
are  without  the  most  painful  experience,  except  those 
who  have  descended  nearest  to  the  rank  of  the  brute, 
sends  him  forth  upon  an  ever  fruitless  quest  to  satisfy 
it.  For  under  the  guidance  of  his  own  wisdom,  he 
never  can  succeed  in  finding  the  satisfying  good, 
because  his  soul  can  be  filled  and  satisfied  only  with 
that  which  the  Wisdom  of  God  marks  as  good,  and 
chooses  for  him.  Therefore  the  more  he  gains  of 
that  which  seems  good  in  his  eyes,  the  more  he 
craves,  and  the  more  earnestly  and  laboriously  re¬ 
news  his  seeking.  This  is  to  reflect  into  his  mind 
and  heart,  and  cause  him  to  know  by  the  most  bitter 
experience,  the  truth  that  in  his  sin  he  has  chosen  a 
guide  of  life  wholly  inadequate  to  distinguish  aright 
between  good  and  evil. 

Through  this  bitter  yet  most  blessed  experience  of 
the  shadowy  and  unsatisfactory  nature  of  earthly 
good,  the  human  race  is  passing  from  generation  to 


200 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


generation  and  from  age  to  age.  Since  the  Fall, 
man  has  been  laboring  to  dig  out  of  the  earth  his 
true  good  ;  to  find  in  things  earthly  a  portion  to 
satisfy  his  soul,  which  should  remain  with  him  for 
ever.  The  ancient  Egyptians  addressed  themselves 
to  their  abstract  yet  sensual  religion,  around  which 
their  whole  life  revolved,  to  fill  their  craving  hearts, 
and  to  establish  and  maintain  their  well-being  and 
prosperity.  What  did  they  become  ?  What  are 
they  now  ?  Babylon  and  Persia  wTould  fill  themselves 
with  the  pride  of  despotism  and  outward  pomp. 
They  bloomed  for  awhile  and  then  withered  as  a 
summer  flower.  Greece  was  seduced  by  the  charms 
of  beauty  and  art.  She  has  sunk  down  so  low  that 
she  cannot  appreciate  her  own  works.  The  Romans 
worshipped  military  glory  and  conquest.  With  in¬ 
finite  labor  and  bloodshed,  they  acquired  all  that 
these  could  give.  Italy  is  now  an  insignificant  de¬ 
pendency  of  other  military  powers.  The  Hindoos 
sought  in  metaphysics  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
good  of  man.  But  this  with  them,  as  with  the  Egyp¬ 
tians,  degenerated  into  the  grossest  sensuality  ;  and 
they  have  sunk  into  imbecility.  The  Chinese,  in 
monstrous  pride  and  conceit  of  their  own  wisdom 
and  self-sufficiency,  have  tried  to  wall  out  all  other 
nations  and  to  shut  themselves  up  within  themselves, 
until,  professing  themselves  to  he  wise,  they  have  be¬ 
come  fools ,  and  utterly  vain  in  their  imaginations. 

A  1  these  things  are  in  vain  for  man  when  sought 
as  a  substantial  and  permanent  good.  His  kingdoms 
and  empires,  all  things  that  he  can  work  out  for  him- 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


201 


self  by  his  own  wisdom  and  toil,  rise  and  fall  like  the 
waves  of  the  troubled  ocean.  Still  he  is  in  want  ; 
still  surrounded  with  thorns  and  thistles  which  pierce 
his  soul.  And  yet  he  continually  repeats  experiments 
that  he  knows  have  a  thousand  times  failed.  The 
nations  of  Europe,  Russia  with  the  sword,  Germany 
with  literature,  France  with  science,  and  England 
with  commerce  and  wealth,  are  seeking  to  achieve 
something  for  the  good  of  man,  to  fill  his  soul ;  while 
the  great  hope  of  America  is  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  and  the  mass-meeting.  Vanity  of  vanities  ; 
all  is  vanity  !  These  experiments,  no  less  than  those 
which  have  preceded  them,  shall  all  utterly  fail  to 
work  out  the  well-being  of  man.  One  day  their 
vanity  shall  appear.  The  judgment  of  toil  shall  not 
be  without  its  effect.  Man  shall  yet,  through  it,  be 
taught  the  folly  of  his  own  wisdom,  and  this  great 
craving,  palpitating  heart  of  humanity,  shall  lose  its 
confidence  in  itself,  feel  its  own  impotence,  and  cry 
with  infinite  desire,  Blessed  be  he  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  Then  shall  the  creature  rejoice 
for  its  redemption  draweth  nigh.  In  Him,  the  Word, 
and  Wisdom  of  God,  shall  man  recover  once  more, 
the  lost  Paradise.  Instamped  with  his  image  of 
meekness,  humility,  purity,  and  self-sacrifice,  filled 
with  his  love  to  God  and  man,  informed  with  his 
everlasting  righteousness,  shall  the  human  race  find 
its  true  good  and  all-satisfying  portion. 

That  which  is  going  on  in  the  human  race  repeats 
itself  continually  in  the  lives  of  individuals.  This 

world  opens  upon  us  in  youth  with  the  fairest  pro- 

9* 


202 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


mises.  We  cannot  but  believe  that,  with  prudence 
and  industry,  we  shall  be  able  to  achieve  something 
to  make  us  happy,  to  satisfy  our  hearts.  We  set 
ourselves  to  attain  whatever  may  seem  good  m  our 
eyes.  If  we  do  not  succeed,  disappointment  pains 
us  ;  if  we  do,  that  which  is  gained  is  found  to  be 
shallow  and  empty :  it  is  soon  exhausted,  soon  ceases 
to  please.  Then  we  place  our  good  in  something 
else  yet  before  us,  which  calls  us  to  a  new  series  of 
thoughts  and  labors.  When  this  is  gained  the  same 
disappointment  meets  us ;  and  we  turn  to  some  other 
object,  to  which  distance  lends  enchantment ,  and 
which  is  clothed  in  the  illusions  of  the  sense  and  the 
mind.  Thus  we  are  ever  seeking,  and  never  finding. 
From  the  ashes  of  our  ruined  hopes,  new  hopes  arise 
with  more  potent  delusion.  Earthly  good,  that 
which  seems  to  be  good  in  our  own  eyes,  in  ever- 
varying  forms  of  beauty,  lures  us  onward  from  one 
thing  to  another,  as  the  butterfly  leads  the  child  a 
long  and  weary  chase  from  flower  to  flower,  and  at 
last  rises  out  of  his  reach.  W e  fix  our  hearts  upon 
earthly  pleasure,  and  woo  her  with  all  the  ardor  of 
idolatry.  But  when  she  is  won,  we  find  her  a  loath¬ 
some  corpse,  a  dead  larva ,  who  unveils  herself  not 
until  the  heart  is  married  to  her  deformity. 

Most  terrible  yet  most  blessed  is  this  experience. 
For  when  through  it  man  has  been  led  to  feel,  I  can 
never  more  rejoice  in  any  earthly  good :  all  that 
this  world  can  give,  all  that  I  can  woik  out  foi  my¬ 
self,  is  utterly  empty,  and  unable  to  satisfy  the  deep 
craving  of  my  soul,  that  is  an  hour  of  infinite  pang, 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


203 


of  indescribable  woe.  But  from  it  he  turns  to  Him 
who  is  the  fulness  of  God,  and  there  finds  the  peace 
of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding ;  the  joy 
of  God  which  is  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

This  judgment  therefore,  inflicted  upon  the  earthly 
nature  of  man,  and  upon  the  wisdom  which  stands 
at  its  head,  and  arising  by  consequence  out  of  his 
sin,  is  a  memorial  and  symbol  of  its  nature  and  its 
folly,  in  that  he  has  cast  off  the  Wisdom  of  God,  for 
a  guide  of  life  wholly  inadequate  to  distinguish 
aright  between  good  and  evil  ;  and  following  which 
he  must  continually  see  and  choose  as  good,  that 
which,  when  attained,  he  finds  to  be  empty  and  un¬ 
satisfying  as  the  east  wind. 

But  the  spiritual  life  of  man,  consisting  in  the  love 
of  God,  filled  and  satisfied  with  the  holy  perfections 
of  God,  nourished  by  filial  obedience  to  his  voice, 
has  perished  in  the  very  act  of  transgression  and 
rebellion.  Now  this  death  must  be  reflected  in  that 
inferior  and  subordinate  nature,  and  in  its  wisdom, 
by  whose  proud  elevation  over  the  Wisdom  of  God, 
he  has  sinned.  Perhaps  he  has  taken  into  his  con¬ 
stitution  the  seeds  of  decay  and  death,  in  the  fruit 
of  the  forbidden  tree  ;  and  now  he  must  be  deprived 
of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life,  by  which  his  health 
and  strength  might  have  been  perennially  nourished 
and  sustained.  Perhaps  at  the  point  where  these 
two  natures  centre  in  unity,  the  death  of  the  one 
passes  over,  so  to  speak,  and  becomes  death  in  the 
other.  By  whatsoever  means  the  judgment  is  exe¬ 
cuted  by  the  ordination  of  God,  it  is  certain  that  all 


204 


or  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


in  man  which  was  taken  from  the  ground  is  doomed 
to  return,  with  pain  and  anguish  and  sorrow  and 
darkness,  to  the  ground  again. 

This  dissolution  and  death  of  the  earthly  nature 
in  man,  with  the  going  out  in  utter  darkness  of  its 
light,  is  the  most  terrible  yet  most  sacred  symbol 
that  has  ever  been  instituted  and  ordained  ot  God, 
to  embody,  and  place  before  our  eyes,  in  visible  and 
sensible  form  that  spiritual  death  which  man  has 
brought  upon  himself  by  his  sin.  As  a  symbol  it  is 
continually  used  in  the  Scriptures.  To  be  carnally 
minded  is  death .  When  the  commandment  came  sin 
revived ,  and  I  died.  In  these,  and  in  ten  thousand 
kindred  expressions,  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  what 
is  signified  by  the  word  death ,  is  not  the  mere  disso¬ 
lution  of  the  earthly  nature  in  man,  but  something 
spiritual ,  of  which  the  death  of  the  body  is  but  an 
outward  form,  to  be  to  man  a  symbol,  and  to  reflect 
it  steadily  back,  with  great  power,  into  his  soul. 

This  symbol  has  been  set  up  in  his  earthly  nature 
because  by  it  he  was  seduced  into  sin.  It  consists 
in  the  going  out  of  the  light  of  the  sensual  nature, 
because  it  has  served  as  an  ignis  fatuus,  to  lead 
man  astray.  It  comes  upon  him  in  spite  of  all  his 
prudence  and  vigilance  and  toil,  to  make  him  know 
how  inadequate  is  the  guide  of  life  which  he  has 
chosen  to  distinguish  aright  between  good  and  evil. 
The  great  horror  and  darkness,  in  which  the  light 
of  the  mortal  life  goes  out,  is  to  reflect  back  into  his 
mind  and  heart  the  knowledge  and  conviction  of  the 
horrible  spiritual  darkness  into  which  he  has  sunk 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


205 


by  sin.  The  pain  and  agony  and  sorrow  of  dissolv¬ 
ing  nature  symbolize  and  set  forth  the  pain  and 
agony  and  sorrow  of  eternal  death — the  worm  that 
never  dies,  and  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched.  In 
that  death  comes  upon  all,  even  upon  infants,  and 
those  who  have  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of 
Adam’s  transgression,  it  symbolizes  the  truth,  that 
spiritual  death,  truly  and  properly  so  called,  in  germ 
if  not  in  full  growth,  is  implanted  in  every  soul  of 
man  that  is  born  in  the  likeness  of  the  father  of  the 
human  race.  For  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world ,  and  death  by  sin  ;  and  so  death  passed  upon 
all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned.  That  is  to  say? 
the  proof  that  spiritual  death  has  come  upon  all  men 
is  that  all  do  sin,  and  that  its  symbol,  the  death  of 
the  body,  is  set  up  in  all. 

These  tremendous  symbols  of  the  nature  and  con¬ 
sequences  of  the  sin  of  man,  set  up  by  God  in  his 
earthly  nature,  were  indispensable,  both  on  account 
of  their  spiritual  significance  and  chastising  power,  to 
his  salvation  from  that  estate  to  which  he  had  now 
reduced  himself.  For  if  he  had  been  allowed  to  re¬ 
main  in  the  garden  of  Paradise,  or  had  been  sent 
forth  into  a  world  where  his  own  prudence  and  fore¬ 
sight  should  have  been  adequate  to  preserve  him 
from  these  things,  soon  he  must  have  lost  all  consci¬ 
ence  of  sin ;  and  all  memory  of  the  high  and  blessed 
life  from  which  he  had  fallen.  Soon  he  would  have 
come  to  regard  his  own  wisdom  as  amply  sufficient 
to  guide  him  aright  in  the  choice  between  good  and 
evil,  since  it  would  have  enabled  him  to  supply  all 


206  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 

the  wants  of  which  he  could  have  retained  any  feeling. 
His  conscience,  already  weakened  and  dethroned, 
would  have  been  put  to  silence  by  the  unrestrained 
gratification  of  the  lusts  of  his  earthly  nature,  and 
would  have  ceased  to  give  any  oracles  from  the 
Wisdom  of  God.  With  the  appetites,  desires  and 
affections  of  this  nature  in  preternatural  strength; 
with  the  means  of  their  full  gratification  at  hand  ; 
their  most  intense  and  protracted  pleasures  unat¬ 
tended  with  pain  or  remorse  ;  the  fear  of  death  re¬ 
moved  ;  man  would  have  been  contented  with  the 
things  of  this  earth.  He  would  have  sunk  down  into 
the  rank  of  the  brute,  in  everything  pertaining  to  his 
moral  and  spiritual  nature.  One  nature  alone  would 
have  reigned  within  him,  and  that  would  have  been 
at  peace  with  itself.  Internal  conflict  would  have 
been  impossible.  All  teeling  of  want  would  have 
perished.  Thus  his  redemption  would  have  become 
impossible  by  those  means  which  God  had  chosen. 
For,  as  man  is  made,  it  is  only  through  the  feeling  of 
want,  nourished  in  the  soul  by  these  institutions  of 
God,  as  symbols  and  as  chastisements,  and  by  other 
means,  that  he  retains  the  capacity  of  receiving  what 
he  needs — the  restoration  of  that  spiritual  life  which 
he  has  forfeited  and  lost  by  his  sin. 

The  great  length  of  the  mortal  life  before  the  flood 
must  have  weakened  the  presence  and  power  of  the 
symbol  and  chastisement  of  Death.  It  occurred  so 
seldom,  that  its  significancy  could  be  lost.  It  could 
be  regarded  as  so  far  off,  that  the  fear  of  it  ceased  to 
deter  from  crime.  Therefore  man  rushed  into  the 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


207 


most  horrible  excesses.  The  earth  was  polluted 
with  violence  and  blood.  Hence,  when  the  time 
came  for  the  promise  that  there  should  be  no  more 
flood,  human  life  must  also  be  shortened.  Its  brevity 
therefore,  the  frequency  with  which  death  occurs  is 
one  of  the  most  urgent  necessities  of,  one  of  the  great¬ 
est  blessings  to,  the  human  race  while  it  continues  in 
its  sins. 

Also,  now,  when  these  symbols  lose  their  power 
over  the  heart  of  man,  hardened  by  its  sins,  he  sinks 
into  inevitable  and  irretrievable  perdition.  When 
the  affairs  of  the  mortal  life  prosper  ;  when  men  are 
comparatively  free  from  care  and  toil  and  sorrow; 
when  death  is  regarded  as  afar  off;  they  lose  almost 
all  feeling  of  the  want  of  anything  better  than  this 
world  can  give ;  all  conscience  of  sin,  and  of  the 
possibility  of  spiritual  life.  Their  mode  of  being  is 
described  by  the  words,  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods 
laid  up  for  many  years ;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink. 
The  words  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  Thou  fool !  this 
night  thy  soul  shall  he  required  of  thee,  lose  all  the 
power  of  truth.  The  language  of  their  hearts  is, 
Give  me  all  the  pleasures  of  earth  for  ever,  and  I  ask 
no  more.  Often  they  live  and  die  without  any  pain¬ 
ful  conviction  of  sin,  as  if  they  had  no  soul.  Their 
heart  is  as  fat  as  grease.  Their  eyes  stand  out  with 
fatness.  They  have  no  hands  in  their  death.  Of  such 
it  is  said,  and  not  of  the  possessor  of  money  as  such, 
It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  nee¬ 
dle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Therefore,  Woe  unto  you  that  are  full;  and 


208 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


Blessed  are  ye  poor .  It  is  impossible  for  him  who 
does  not  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  to  be 
filled. 

But  when  man  feels  the  thorn  and  the  thistle  in 
the  flesh ;  when  he  is  worn  down  with  the  labor  of 
the  body,  and  exhausted  with  exertion  of  the  mind  ; 
when  he  is  racked  with  pain,  and  pierced  with  disap¬ 
pointment  ;  when  he  is  heart-broken  with  affliction 
and  sorrow ;  when  death  enters  and  lays  his  iron 
hand  upon  the  most  beautiful  and  best  beloved  of  his 
heart ;  when  he  beholds  in  others  and  feels  in  him¬ 
self  the  agonies  of  the  dissolution  of  his  earthly  na¬ 
ture  ;  when  he  feels  the  light  of  the  mortal  life  going 
out  in  utter  darkness,  then  he  knows  that  all  is  not 
right  between  him  and  his  God ;  then  he  feels  the 
want  of  something  which  this  earth  cannot  give,  and 
sighs  for  the  restoration  of  that  spiritual  life  which  he 
has  lost,  and  which,  as  brought  to  light  by  Christ, 
cannot  be  subject  to  dissolution  nor  decay.  To  pro¬ 
duce  this  very  effect  indispensable  to  his  salvation, 
and  for  which  they  have  a  power  which  no  processes 
of  reasoning  can  have,  were  these  most  terrible,  yet 
most  sacred  symbols  set  up  by  God  in  man’s  earthly 
nature,  in  the  bosom  of  the  mortal  life  ;  that  by  their 
chastising  influence,  and  by  their  outward  and  visible 
reflection  of  the  nature  and  consequences  of  his 
transgression  ;  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  guide  of  dis¬ 
tinction  between  good  and  evil  which  he  has  chosen, 
and  of  the  spiritual  death  which  he  has  brought  upon 
himself,  the  conviction  of  his  sin  and  folly  might  be 
nourished  in  his  soul :  that  the  feeling  of  want  might 


OF  THE  JUDGMENT  UPON  MAN. 


209 


not  perish  out  of  his  heart,  and  leave  him  to  perish 
without  remedy. 

Blessed  be  the  thorn  and  the  thistle  !  Blessed  be 
toil !  Blessed  be  sorrow  !  Blessed  be  death  ! 


210 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 

>  *  •  r  .  •  *  ;  *  ^  *  i.*-  •  .  . 

“Unto  the  man  also  and  his  wife  did  Jehovah  God  make  coats  of 
skins,  and  clothed  them.” 

God  had  not  spared  to  inflict  upon  his  offending 
creature  the  tremendous  chastisement  ol  labor  and 
sorrow  and  death.  Did  he  now  go  about  to  provide 
for  him  a  good  suit  ol  clothes,  by  such  extraordinaiy 
means  as  the  shedding  ol  the  blood  of  innocent  ani¬ 
mals,  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  relieve  him  from  a 
little  bodily  inconvenience  ?  This  also  is  a  symbol. 

In  order  that  we  may  the  better  comprehend  its 
significancy,  it  must  be  observed  that  here,  in  the 
garden  of  man’s  former  innocence,  as  soon  as  he  had 
sinned,  God  began  that  stupendous  system  of  prepar¬ 
ation  for  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  which  he  carried  on 
with  unswerving  fidelity  and  rigor  for  four  thousand 
years.  Of  this  whole  system  the  fundamental  idea 
was,  that  without  the  shedding  of  blood  was  no  re¬ 
mission  of  sin.  Here  he  began  it  in  the  slaughter  of 
the  innocent  for  the  guilty.  From  the  account  given 
of  the  sacrifices*  of  Cain  and  Abel  it  manilestly 

*  In  the  New  Testament  it  is  declared  By  faith  Abel  offered  unto 
God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain.  The  question  here 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


211 


appears  that  this  was  already  regarded  as  an  institu¬ 
tion  of  divine  appointment.  Throughout  the  long 
line  of  patriarchs,  from  Adam  to  Israel,  no  other 
offering  is  ever  made  but  that  of  an  animal  whose 
blood  had  been  shed.  At  last,  in  order  that  the  work 
might  be  perfected,  God  called  the  nation  of  the 
Jews  out  from  all  others  ;  isolated  them  from  foreign 
influence,  and  set  up  among  them  that  most  wonder¬ 
ful  ritual  of  bloody  symbols,  which  is  described  in 
the  book  of  Leviticus.  Morning  and  evening,  and  on 
all  extraordinary  occasions  in  the  lives  of  individuals, 
and  in  that  of  the  nation,  for  fifteen  hundred  years, 

arises,  What  had  been  revealed  by  God  which  Abel  believed,  and  in 
which  Cain  had  no  faith  ?  In  order  to  find  the  true  solution  of  this 
question  it  must  be  observed  that  the  offerings  themselves  were 
different.  Abel  sacrificed  an  animal ;  Cain  did  not.  From  this  it 
might  be  presumed  that  God  had  commanded  them  both  to  offer 
bloody  sacrifices.  But  this  is  not  left  to  conjecture  if  we  adopt  that 
sense  of  the  passage  which  is  preferred  by  many  Hebrew  scholars, 
and  which,  it  would  seem  beyond  all  doubt,  is  the  true  one.  For 
in  the  words,  If  thou  doest  not  well  sin  lieth  at  the  door,  there 
seems  to  be  little  more  expressed  than  the  identical  proposition,  If 
thou  sinnest,  thou  sinnest.  But  the  word  here  translated  sin  is  fre¬ 
quently  used  in  the  Scripture  to  signify  a  sin-offering  ;  and  so  it  is 
elsewhere  translated.  But  if  it  be  so  rendered  here,  the  words  of 
God  to  Cain,  rebuking  him  because  he  was  angry  that  his  brother’s 
offering  had  been  accepted  and  his  own  rejected,  become  most  sig¬ 
nificant,  and  reveal  the  true  reason  of  the  rejection  of  Cain’s  sacri¬ 
fice.  Why  art  thou  wroth  ?  If  thou  doest  well  shalt  thou  not  be 
accepted  ?  thou  shalt  surely  be  accepted.  If  thou  doest  not  well,  a 
sin-offering  is  lying  down  at  the  door.  If  thou  hast  sinned  the 
animal  which  I  have  designated  as  a  sin-offering  is  lying  down  at 
the  door  of  thy  tent;  that  take,  shed  its  blood,  and  offer  it  with  the 
confession  of  thy  sin,  as  I  have  commanded,  and  thou  shalt  be  for¬ 
given,  and  accepted  no  less  than  thy  brother. 


212 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


the  victim  bled  with  the  confession  of  sin.  It  was 
only  by  dragging  the  innocent  animal  to  the  altar, 
confessing  his  sins  over  its  head,  and  offering  its  life 
in  place  of  his  own  that  the  Jew  could  obtain  forgive¬ 
ness  and  reconciliation.  Once  a  year,  on  the  great 
day  of  atonement,  the  high  priest,  in  the  presence  of 
the  congregated  thousands  of  Israel,  made  full  con¬ 
fession  of  the  sins  of  the  whole  people  in  their  name 
with  the  shedding  of  blood,  which  he  took  and  sprin¬ 
kled  before  the  mercy  seat  of  Jehovah  between  the 
cherubim  in  the  Holy  of  Holies.  Everything  be¬ 
longing  to  the  worship  of  God  was  sanctified  with 
blood,  and  without  the  shedding  of  blood  was  no  re - 
mission.  This  idea  which  lay  at  the  bottom  of  all 
the  rites  of  the  ceremonial  law,  was  symbolized 
and  reflected  into  the  minds  of  the  people  from  gene¬ 
ration  to  generation  and  from  age  to  age,  in  every 
conceivable  form,  in  order  that  they  might  be  sur¬ 
rounded  and  filled  with  it,  and  moulded  into  its  like¬ 
ness.  Their  whole  life  was  made  to  revolve  around 
it,  that  it  might  be  instilled  into  them.  It  was  an 
idea  so  strange,  and  even  so  revolting  to  human  wis¬ 
dom,  that  God  saw  it  to  be  necessary  to  reveal  it  to 
the  human  race  with  great  signs  and  wonders  and 
manifestations  of  his  power  and  authority ;  and  to 
keep  it  steadily  before  the  eyes  of  that  people  out  of 
whom  the  great  sacrifice  was  to  arise,  in  order  that  any 
should  be  found  to  believe  on  him  to  spread  his  Gospel, 
when  he  should  be  revealed.  For  all  this,  as  we  are 
expressly  told  in  the  New  Testament,  was  prepara- 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


213 


tory  for  him ;  since  it  was  impossible  that  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  of  goats  should  take  away  sin. 

No  less  preparatory  for  that  which  was  to  be  re¬ 
vealed  in  him,  was  the  moral  law.  For  by  the  very 
condition  of  that  law,  which  was  perfect  obedience, 
it  excluded  man  from  salvation.  This  do  and  thou 
shalt  live.  Cursed  be  every  one  that  continueth  not 
in  all  things  which  are  written  in  this  law  to  do  them. 
This  condition  man  in  his  own  strength  never  did, 
nor  ever  can  fulfil,  because  the  law  comes  to  him 
demanding  that  it  should  never  be  violated  not  until 
he  has  already  violated  it.  It  finds  every  man  a 
depraved  being,  and  therefore  incapable  of  perfect 
obedience  by  his  own  agency.  It  was  not  therefore 
given  to  do  what  it  could  not  do,  but  for  another 
purpose,  to  be  our  schoolmaster  to  lead  us  to  Christ. 
If  a  law  had  been  given  which  could  have  given  life , 
verily  righteousness  should  have  been  by  the  law. 

Wherefore  then  serveth  the  law?  What  is  that 
precise  effect  which  it  was  necessary  to  work  in  the 
heart  of  man  in  order  that  he  should  be  prepared  to 
believe  in  Christ,  and  thus  come  back  to  submission 
and  obedience  ?  It  was  added  because  of  transgres¬ 
sions  until  the  Seed  should  come.  The  law  entered 
that  the  offence  might  abound.  Not  that  the  law 
was  given  by  God  for  the  purpose  of  making  man 
more  sinful.  God  does  not  make  his  creatures  sin¬ 
ful,  nor  more  sinful ;  but  he  saves  them  from  their 
sins.  But  the  law  entered  to  bring  out  into  con¬ 
sciousness  and  conviction,  as  sin ,  that  evil  pravity  of 
nature  in  man  which  he  does  not  recognise  nor  feel 


214 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


to  be  truly  and  properly  sin  until  it  goes  forth  in 
transgression  of  the  law  known  ;  that  by  this  means 
he  might  come  to  the  knowledge  of  sin  within  him, 
in  its  exceeding  abundance.  The  law  is  the  instru¬ 
ment  of  God  to  make  him  know  and  feel  how  sinful 
he  is.  Yet  it  is  true,  that  the  law  is  the  occasion , 
though  not  the  cause  of  man’s  becoming  more  sinful 
than  he  can  be  without  it.  But  the  sin  of  which  it 
is  only  the  occasion  is  not  to  be  charged  upon  it, 
but  upon  that  which  is  truly  and  properly  its  cause. 
For  the  law  is  holy,  and  the  commandment  is  holy  and 
just  and  good.  Yet  the  commandment  which  was  or¬ 
dained  unto  life,  I  found  to  be  unto  death.  For  when 
the  commandment  came,  sin  revived,  and  I  died  the 
death  in  trespasses  and  in  sins.  For  sin  taking  oc¬ 
casion  by  the  commandment  deceived  me,  and  by  it 
slew  me,  that  is  to  say,  wrought  in  me  all  manner  of 
concupiscence.  Was  then  that  which  is  good  made 
death  to  me?  God  forbid :  but  sin,  the  depraved, 
perverse  evil  nature,  which  was  in  me  befoie  the 
commandment  came — this  it  was  which  was  made 
death  to  me,  that  it  might  appear  sin,  be  brought  out 
and  recognised  as  sin  in  this,  its  working  death  in  me 
by  that  which  was  good,  that  sin  by  the  commandment 
might  become  exceeding  sinful.  By  the  fact  that 
man’s  evil  nature  abuses  and  perverts  a  good  thing, 
the  holy  law  of  God,  into  an  occasion  ol  becoming 
more  sinful,  his  depravity  and  exceeding  sinfulness 
is  demonstrated  and  made  known  to  him.  For  by 
the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin. 

But  how  can  this  holy  and  just  and  good  law  of 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


215 


God  become  even  an  occasion  of  the  revival  of  sin 
in  the  heait  of  man  ?  In  virtue  of  that  in  him,  which 
led  Adam  after  he  had  sinned  to  fly  from  the  presence 
of  the  Voice  of  God,  and  hide  himself,  thus  adding  to 
his  sin.  This  law  exhibits  God  in  the  attribute  and 
attitude  of  justice,  without  mercy.  Cursed  be  every 
one  that  continueth  not  in  oil  things  which  are  written 
in  the  book  of  this  law  to  do  them.  It  comes  to  every 
man,  who  is  born  in  the  likeness  of  Adam,  after  he 
has  sinned.  It  finds  him  in  rebellion  against  its  wis¬ 
dom  and  authority,  and  under  its  curse.  It  finds  him 
blinded  in  his  mind  and  hardened  in  his  heart,  so  that 
he  does  not  see  nor  feel  the  paramount  authority  of 
justice.  He  is  now  grounded  and  built  up  in  selfish¬ 
ness,  so  that  he  cannot  feel  that  justice  is  of  more 
woith  than  his  own  well-being.  He  is  not  whiling 
that  justice  should  have  its  course  at  the  expense  of 
himself.  The  maxim,  Fiat  justitia ,  ruat  ccelum ,  he 
would  have  inverted  when  applied  to  himself.  Let 
his  heaven  stand  even  at  the  expense  of  justice. 
Hence  the  justice  of  God  is  to  the  sinner  a  terrible 
and  hateful  thing.  It  will  not,  because  it  cannot, 
allow  of  the  least  transgression.  It  thunders  death 
to  the  transgressor.  While  through  the  law  God  is 
exhibited  to  him  in  the  attitude  of  simple  justice,  he 
hates  God ;  he  counts  him  his  enemy.  But  to  hate 
God  is  the  highest  development  of  sin.  This  is  its 
last  term.  This  is  the  life  of  spiritual  death.  Thus 
the  commandment  which  was  ordained  unto  life,  he 
finds  to  be  unto  death.  This  inward  and  spiritual 
alienation  from  God  was  that  in  Adam  which  caused 


216  OP  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 

him  to  fly  from  his  outward  presence,  under  which 
act  of  the  first  man  it  is  symbolized  and  set  forth,  as 
it  takes  place  in  every  man.  While  this  delusion  m 
the  sinner  that  God  is  his  enemy  continues,  while  this 
fear  reigns  over  him,  he  must  remain  in  his  aliena¬ 
tion  from  God.  He  cannot,  because  he  will  not,  and 
he  will  not,  because  he  cannot,  return  to  him  in  sub¬ 
mission,  love  and  obedience.  He  is  shut  up  under 
him  by  the  law.  Through  it  he  receives  the  sentence 
of  death  in  himself ;  the  judgment  of  God  upon  the 
Adam  in  him.  This,  also,  is  symbolized  by  the  sen¬ 
tence  of  death  pronounced  upon  the  father  of  the 
human  race,  before  he  received  from  the  hand  of  God 
a  substantial  covering  for  his  nakedness  and  shame. 

This  is  the  preparatory  work  of  the  moral  law, 

and  beyond  this  it  cannot  go. 

But  if  man  be  left  here,  he  remains  in  his  delusion 

that  God  is  his  enemy  ;  in  his  alienation  and  enmity, 
which  leads  him  to  fly  further  and  further  from  God  ; 
to  plunge  himself  deeper  and  deeper  into  sin,  and  the 
perdition  of  sin.  For  in  God’s  presence  only  are 
there  joys  for  evermore.  God  is  the  root  of  his  life. 
His  true  well-being  consists  and  is  found  not  else¬ 
where  nor  otherwise  than  in  his  presence,  and  in  that 
union  with  God,  of  which  confidence  or  faith,  submis¬ 
sion,  love  and  obedience  are  the  legitimate  fruits. 
Only  the  wisdom  of  God,  received  by  faith  01  confi¬ 
dence  in  it,  can  be  to  him  an  unerring  guide  of  choice 
between  good  and  evil.  Left  here,  therefore,  man 
must  perish  for  ever.  He  is  lost.  Hence,  if  he  is  to 
be  saved  out  of  his  sin  at  all,  he  needs,  he  must  have, 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


217 


a  manifestation  of  God’s  gracious  disposition  towards 
him.  He  must  be  convinced  that  God  is  not  his 
enemy.  He  must  know  that  God’s  justice,  which  de¬ 
mands  satisfaction,  and  which  has  already  pronounced 
sentence  of  death  upon  the  Adam  in  him,  is  not  in¬ 
consistent  with  such  love  as  would  yet  save  him  from 
his  sins.  Also,  since  he  has  sinned  by  such  a  conceit 
of  his  own  wisdom  as  has  led  him,  for  its  guidance, 
to  cast  off  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom  of  God  as  a 
guide  of  life,  and  has  thus  fallen  under  the  condem¬ 
nation  of  the  justice  of  God,  it  is  necessary  that  this 
manifestation  of  God’s  love  to  him  which  he  needs, 
should  be  made  through  such  means  as  shall  satisfy 
the  justice  of  God,  and  through  such  means  that  he 
cannot  truly  and  from  the  heart  believe  in  it,  without 
having  the  pride  of  his  own  wisdom  crushed,  and  it 
forced  to  confess  itself  a  fool  before  God,  Lnd  no 
longer  to  be  trusted. 

What  now  is  that  grand  d  solemn  mystery  which 
demanded,  or  could  be  appropriately  announced  by 
such  a  stupendous  scheme  of  preparation  as  this? 
What  can  be  the  appropriate  end  and  fulfilment  of 
a  course  of  four  thousand  years  of  shedding  the  blood 
of  innocent  animals,  and  offering  them  up  to  God  with 
the  confession  of  sin  ?  What  is  that  grand  and  solemn 
mystery,  which  can  meet  these  spiritual  necessities  of 
the  human  race,  by  satisfying  the  justice  of  God,  by 
manifesting  his  infinite  love,  and  by  crushing  for  ever 
the  pride  of  man’s  wisdom  ?  Let  God  himself  declare 
it,  without  the  possibility  of  admixture  with  human 
devices. 


10 


218 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  son  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 

SHOULD  NOT  PERISH,  BUT  HAVE  EVERLASTING  LIFE.  He 
HATH  MADE  HIM  TO  BE  SIN  FOR  US  WHO  KNEW  NO  SIN, 
THAT  WE  MIGHT  BE  MADE  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  OF  GoD 

IN  HIM.  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitia¬ 
tion,  THROUGH  FAITH  IN  HIS  BLOOD,  TO  DECLARE  HIS 
RIGHTEOUSNESS  FOR  THE  REMISSION  OF  SINS  THAT  ARE 
PAST  THROUGH  THE  FORBEARANCE  OF  GoD— TO  DECLARE 
HIS  RIGHTEOUSNESS  THAT  HE  MIGHT  BE  JUST,  AND  THE 
JUSTIFIER  OF  HIM  WHICH  BELIEVETH  IN  JeSUS.  He  IS 
THE  PROPITIATION  FOR  OUR  SINS,  AND  NOT  FOR  OURS 
ONLY,  BUT  FOR  THE  SINS  OF  THE  WHOLE  WORLD.  The 

Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  inigiuity  of  us  all  : 

AND  WITH  HIS  STRIPES  WE  ARE  HEALED.  GoD  COM- 
MENDETH  HIS  LOVE  TOWARDS  US  IN  THAT  WHILE  WE 
WERE  YET  SINNERS  CHRIST  DIED  FOR  US.  For  WHEN 
WE  WERE  YET  WITHOUT  STRENGTH,  IN  DUE  TIME  ClIRIST 

died  for  the  ungodly.  When  we  were  enemies,  we 

WERE  RECONCILED  TO  GoD  BY  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  SoN. 

Great  is  the  mystery  of  Godliness  :  God  was  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not 
imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them. 

This  is  the  mystery  of  the  gospel.  As  we  have 
seen,  it  is  impossible  for  man  to  perceive  how  the 
death  of  Christ  in  our  stead  can  satisfy,  or  in  any  way 
relieve  the  justice  of  God  lor  our  sins.  The  logical 
explanations  of  it  which  men  give,  resolve  themselves 
into  the  most  transparent  sophisms,  under  a  pure  and 
rigid  analysis.  It  defies  the  wisdom  of  man.  It  is 
foolishness  in  his  eyes.  He  is  warned  beforehand 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


219 


la  it  must  appear  to  be  foolishness  to  his  wisdom. 
^  et  he  is  assured  upon  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom 
o  0-od,  that  it  is  not  foolishness,  but  the  truth  and  a 
fact ;  that  by  the  faith  of  it,  as  the  truth  and  a  fact 
man  s  wisdom  might  stand  confessed,  a  fool.  This  is 
the  foolishness  of  the  Cross,  in  the  faith  of  which 
resides  the  power  to  crush  the  carnal  mind,  the  head 
oi  the  serpent  in  man,  and  to  reduce  his  soul  once 
more  into  subjection  to  the  authority  of  the  Wisdom 

Also,  In  Him  was  the  love  of  God  manifested. 
Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this ,  that  a  man  lay 
down  his  life  for  his  friends.  Herein  is  love  ;  not 
that  we  loved  God ,  hut  that  he  loved  us ,  and  sent  his 
bon  to  he  the  propitiation  for  our  sins.  This  is  the 
gieatest  and  most  powerful  manifestation  of  the  love 
of  God  for  the  sinner  which  is  possible.  That  God 
should  give  his  only  begotten  son  to  die  for  us— no¬ 
thing,  beyond  what  is  set  forth  by  such  an  act  as  this 
is  conceivable.  Also,  this  is  a  love  which  is  back  of 
the  atonement,  as  the  cause  is  back  of  its  effect.  It 
does  not  originally  depend  upon  the  atonement ;  but 
the  atonement  depends  upon  it,  and  is  its  manifesta¬ 
tion.  The  atonement  is  the  fruit  and  consequence  of 
the  love  of  God.  Moved  by  this  love,  he  devised  the 
atonement ;  he  found  the  sacrifice  in  his  only  begotten 
son  ;  he  laid  upon  him  the  iniquities  of  us  all.  The 
satisfaction  which  his  justice  demanded  did  not  limit 
this  love.  In  his  infinite  nature,  justice  and  mercy 
and  love  are  not  inconsistent.  The  love  of  God  is 
justice,  and  his  justice  is  love.  God  is  love.  God 


220 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


loves  his  enemies  even  while  they  are  enemies ;  else 
he  could  not  command  us  in  order  to  be  like  him,  o 
love  our  enemies. 

Now  by  what  means  man  is  brought  to  believe  m 
this  love  of  God,  as  manifested  in  the  gift  of  his  bon, 
is  not  here  the  question.  But  when  once  it  is  e- 
lieved  in,  not  only  is  the  wisdom  of  man  confessed  to 
be  folly,  in  that  it  is  brought  to  believe  what  seems 
to  be  foolishness  in  its  own  eyes,  but  also  by  this 
faith  the  delusion  that  God  was  his  enemy  is  scat¬ 
tered  to  the  winds.  That  fear  which  arises  out  oi 
the  shame  of  conscious  sin  and  which  drives  im 
from  the  presence  of  God  into  deeper  an  eepei 
alienation  and  enmity,  is  destroyed ;  and  he  receives 
boldness  to  return  to  the  only  source  and  fountain  ot 
his  spiritual  life  and  well-being.  Nay,  he  is  m  some 
sort  sweetly  forced  into  repentance,  for  by  this 
manifestation  of  his  love,  which  God  has  made  in 
that  he  himself  has  found  a  sacrifice  and  ransom  01 
the  soul  of  man,  in  the  blood  of  his  own  Son,  he  fol¬ 
lows  the  sinner  out  into  his  alienation  and  rebellion 
and  enmity,  and  proclaims  his  love  to  him  there  to 
soften  his  heart,  to  take  away  his  fear,  and  to  win 
him  back  to  life.  Here  the  sinner  first  learns  against 
whom,  and  what  manner  of  love,  he  has^  sinne  . 
That  God  should  love  him  while  he  was  innocent 
does  not  seem  strange.  But  here  he  learns  that, 
although  the  justice  of  God  demanded  satisfaction, 
vet  God  has  never  been  alienated  from  him  in  the 
spirit  of  his  mind.  From  the  moment  when  he  be¬ 
gan  to  rebel,  God  had  prepared  an  atonement  for  his 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


221 


sin,  through  which  in  due  time  he  would  manifest 
that  eternal  love,  which  moved  him  to  lay  the  sins  of 
man  upon  his  own  Son.  Even  in  the  terrible  sen¬ 
tence  of  death  pronounced  by  the  Voice  of  God 
through  the  law  upon  the  Adam  in  him,  God  was 
moved  by  love.  That  condemnation  and  death  itself 
was  a  blessing,  only  he  did  not  then  know  it.  And 
it  was  even  necessary  that  this  knowledge  should  be 
withheld  from  him  then,  in  order  that  the  sentence 
ol  death  should  be  executed,  that  he  might  truly  die 
unto  sin.  By  this  proclamation  of  his  love  to  the 
sinner,  God  heaps  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head  to  melt 
him  into  repentance.  He  overcomes  evil  with  good. 
His  love  overcomes  and  kills  the  sinner’s  enmity. 
For  when,  believing  in  this  love  which  is  declared  by 
the  gift  of  the  Son  of  God,  he  learns  that  the  God 
against  whom  he  has  been  sinning,  is  One  who  has 
so  loved  him,  as  to  find  an  atonement  for  his  sins  ; 
and  that  too,  since  nothing  else  would  do,  in  the 
sacrifice  of  his  own  Son,  that  he  might  save  his 
soul  from  perdition — this  it  is  which  brings  out  his 
sin  as  something  so  inexcusable,  unreasonable,  malig¬ 
nant,  loathsome,  and  abominable,  that  repentance 
seems  to  come  into  his  heart  of  itself.  This  reveals 
such  an  unfathomable  depth  of  love  in  God,  that  it 
has,  where  it  is  believed,  an  overwhelming  soul-sub¬ 
duing  power.  It  melts  the  most  obdurate  and  rebel¬ 
lious  heart  into  penitence  and  humiliation  as  soon  as 
it  is  believed.  By  it  man  is  broken  down.  His 
evil  is  overcome  by  the  omnipotence  of  God’s  good¬ 
ness.  His  enmity  subdued  by  the  omnipotence  of 


222 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


God’s  love.  He  may  stand  in  the  pride  of  his  heart, 
and  refuse  to  recognise  the  presence  of  his  God,  while 
the  wind  and  the  earthquake  and  the  fire  rage  around 
him.  But  when  he  hears  that  still  small  voice,  I  have 
redeemed  thee  with  the  sacrifice  of  mine  only  begotten 
Son,  he  wraps  his  face  in  his  mantle,  and  bows  his 
head.  His  rebellion  ceases.  God  has  conquered. 
And  this  is  that  which  has  given  him  the  victory, 
even  his  love,  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ. 

Thus  by  the  atonement  of  Christ  the  justice  ol 
God  is  satisfied,  the  love  of  God  is  manifested, 
through  such  means,  as  that  by  the  faith  of  it,  the 
pride  of  man’s  wisdom  is  crushed,  and  he  recon¬ 
ciled  in  the  spirit  of  his  mind  to  his  Heavenly 
Father.  The  fear  of  conscious  sin  no  longer  drives 
him  from  the  presence  of  his  God.  Now  he  can 
return  to  God.  The  righteousness  of  Christ,  in  his 
obedience,  sufferings  and  death  for  him,  becomes  as 
a  garment  to  cover  his  nakedness  and  shame,  to  blot 
out ,  to  put  away  his  sin.  And  he  cannot  return  in 
any  other  way.  He  must  have  peace  with  God  in 
order  to  love  God.  He  must  love  God  in  order  to 
please  him  by  obedience.  He  must  submit  to  his 
Wisdom,  and  obey  its  guidance  in  the  choice  between 
good  and  evil,  in  order  to  choose  aright  and  live. 
The  faith  of  God’s  love  towards  us,  as  manifested 
through  the  gift  of  his  Son,  is  the  only  spring  and 
generator  of  our  love  towards  him.  We  love  him 
not  otherwise  than  because  he  first  loved  us.  For, 
although  the  character  of  God  is  infinitely  worthy 
of  love  for  its  own  sake,  yet  it  cannot  reach  a  sinner 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


223 


depraved  and  blinded  so  as  to  be  known,  except 
through  the  faith  of  this  declaration,  God  commend- 
eth  his  love  towards  us  in  that  while  we  were  yet  sin¬ 
ners  Christ  died  for  us.  Man  must  have  justifica¬ 
tion  before  he  can  have  sanctification.  This  is  the 
doctrine  the  loss  of  which  St.  Paul  represents  as 
fatal  to  his  countrymen.  And  here  is  the  reason  why 
the  early  Reformers  represented  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  as  Articulus  vel  stantis  vel  ca- 
dentis  Ecclesice. 

Unto  this  faith  afterwards  in  due  time  to  be  fully 
declared,  man  was  shut  up,  by  the  system  of  bloody 
sacrifices  for  sin,  and  by  the  operation  of  the  moral 
law,  or  in  other  words,  the  law  of  distinction  between 
right  and  wrong,  upon  his  heart  and  mind.  These 
truths  of  the  gospel  were  symbolized  or  expressed 
from  the  time  that  the  first  man  was  covered  by  the 
hand  of  God,  in  the  skins  of  slaughtered  animals 
until  the  Seed  came.  Immediately  upon  the  Fall 
they  are  set  forth  under  the  symbol  of  the  clothing 
with  skins,  precisely  in  the  order  in  which  they  were 
afterwards  to  be  declared. 

For,  as  we  have  seen,  the  shame  of  man’s  naked 
body  arose  out  of,  and  became  the  symbol  of  his 
new  feeling,  the  inward  and  spiritual  shame  of  con¬ 
scious  sin.  His  girdle  of  fig-leaves  was  the  symbol 
of  his  attempt  to  disguise  and  palliate  his  sin,  to 
cover  it  from  his  own  eyes,  and  from  the  eye  of  God. 
It  did  not  succeed.  He  needed  a  better  covering 
than  any  which  his  hands  could  provide.  He  was 
still  naked,  ashamed  and.  afraid.  His  flight  from  the 


224 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


presence  of  God  to  hide  himself  was  but  the  outgo¬ 
ing  and  manifestation  of  his  alienation  from  God, 
increased  by  his  fear;  in  which  God  was  regaided 
as  his  enemy,  and  the  justice  of  God  was  terrible 
and  hateful  to  his  soul.  The  Voice  of  God  pro¬ 
nouncing  upon  him  the  sentence  of  death  was  the 
symbol  of  that  inward  and  spiritual  sentence  of 
death  pronounced  by  the  law,  that  sentence  of  death 
in  himself  which  Paul  received,  and  which  every 
one  must  receive  upon  the  Adam  in  him,  whenever 
he  is  reached  by  the  Voice  of  God  through  the  law. 

And  now,  what  was  the  object,  what  must  have 
been  the  effect  upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  Adam,  of 
the  act  which  followed,  together  with  the  promise 
which  had  been  declared  by  God  in  the  curse  upon 
the  serpent  ?  How  must  this  have  destroyed  his 
delusion  that  God  was  his  enemy  ;  and  convinced 
him  that  the  heart  of  God  was  still  full  of  pity  and 
mercy  and  love  towards  his  erring  creature  !  It  was 
as  much  as  to  say  in  words,  and  by  act  more  express¬ 
ive  than  words,  I  do  not  hate  you,  O  Alan,  though  I 
condemn  your  sin  and  folly.  I  love  you,  though  you 
have  despised  my  love.  Behold  my  love  in  this  that 
I  have  determined  not  to  leave  you  in  your  ruin. 
Your  enemy  shall  not  triumph  over  you,  although  you 
have  put  yourself  into  his  hands.  I  will  crush  his 
head,  and  utterly  destroy  his  power.  By  the  Seed 
of  the  woman  herself ;  of  her  who  was  first  in  the 
transgression,  I  will  triumph  over  him  ;  and  you  shall 
also  triumph  through  me.  But  seek  no  more  to  cover 
your  sin  from  me.  You  must  lay  bare  the  nakedness 


OP  THE  CLOTHING  OP  SKINS, 


225 


of  your  soul  to  my  eyes.  I  must  judge  the  evil  that 
is  in  you  to  destroy  it  out  of  you.  In  my  judgment 
alone  can  you  have  any  hope  of  salvation  from  your 
sin,  and  from  its  terrible  perdition.  All  that  you  can 
devise  and  do  is,  and  must  be,  for  ever  in  vain  to 
cover  your  shame,  and  take  away  your  fear.  I  must 
do  this  for  you.  But  seek  no  more  to  comprehend 
and  justify  in  your  eyes  my  Wisdom  in  that  which  I 
do.  It  demands  the  submission  of  your  mind.  Your 
sin  is  of  such  horrible  magnitude,  that  it  cannot  be 
put  away  by  any  means  which  your  wisdom  would 
choose.  An  innocent  victim  must  suffer  in  your 
stead ;  must  bear  your  sin ,  and  carry  your  trans¬ 
gressions.  This  is  foolishness  in  your  eyes  ;  not  so 
in  mine,  because  my  wisdom  is  better  than  yours  now 
blinded  by  your  sin.  Therefore  cease  from  your 
own  wisdom ;  submit  to  me,  follow  my  Wisdom  in 
all  things.  Lo  !  I  give  you  the  sign  of  this  thing. — 
And  in  that  form  which  he  had  chosen  to  commune 
with  his  creature,  God  lays  hold  upon  the  innocent 
animals ;  pours  out  their  life  unto  death ;  and  with 
their  skins  yet  reeking  with  the  blood  of  life,  himself 
covers  the  nakedness,  and  puts  away  the  shame  of 
man. — Behold,  I  have  covered  your  naked  body, 
which  made  you  ashamed  and  afraid  in  my  presence, 
and  caused  you  to  fly  from  me,  by  the  slaughter  of 
the  innocent  for  you.  I  have  found  an  innocent  vic¬ 
tim  and  sacrifice  for  your  sin.  I  have  put  it  away 
and  covered  it  from  my  eyes.  Here  learn  that  I  am 
not  your  enemy ;  that  I  love  you,  and  have  provided 
the  covering  that  you  need  to  appear  in  my  presence. 

10* 


226 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


Therefore  seek  no  more  to  fly  and  hide  yourself  from 
me.  The  chastisements  which  I  have  laid  upon  you 
are  the  fruits  of  my  love.  Return  to  me  in  the  spirit 
of  your  mind  ;  in  confidence,  love,  and  obedience. 
For  under  my  guidance  only  can  you  choose  aright 
between  good  and  evil.  Left  to  your  own  ways  which 
you  have  chosen,  you  must  perish  for  ever.  I  am 
the  root  of  your  life,  you  are  a  branch.  I  am  the 

head  of  which  you  are  a  member. 

Thus  when  man  had  received  the  sentence  of 
death  in  himself  from  the  Y oice  of  God  ;  when  his 
own  covering  for  his  nakedness  had  been  stripped  off; 
when  his  own  excuses  and  palliations  for  his  sin  had 
been  consumed  by  the  flame  of  God’s  searching  and 
righteous  judgment,  made  known  in  his  heart  and 
conscience,  then,  and  not  before,  he  received  this  seal 
of  grace,  mercy  and  love,  to  melt  him  into  repent¬ 
ance  ;  to  win  him  back  to  union  with  his  heavenly 
father  in  love,  that  he  might  be  saved  from  his  sin. 
God  covered  with  his  own  hand  his  naked  body,  the 
shame  of  which  had  made  him  afraid,  and  driven 
him  to  fly  and  hide  himself,  to  signify  that  he  only 
can,  and  that  he  truly  does,  cover  and  put  away  the 
sin  from  which  that  shame  has  arisen.  This  cover¬ 
ing  was  not  an  apron  or  girdle  of  flimsy  fig  leaves ; 
but  garments  or  robes  of  the  skins  of  beasts,  the 
most^substantial  and  durable  material,  to  signify  that 
the  covering  which  God  provides  foi  the  sinnei  is 
complete  and  perfect,  wholly  the  work  of  God,  an 
everlasting  righteousness ;  which  once  and  for  ever, 
where  it  is  received  by  believing  in  it,  takes  away 


OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 


227 


that  shame  and  fear  which  drives  the  deluded  soul 
from  his  presence  and  from  life.-  These  garments 
God  provided  not  otherwise  than  by  the  sacrifice  of 
innocent  animals,  to  symbolize  the  truth  that  the 
righteousness  which  only  can  effectually  cover  the 
sin  of  man,  must  be  found  in  the  sacrifice  of  the 
innocent  for  the  guilty,  even  of  the  Lamb  which  was 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

From  this  act  of  God,  in  which  he  clothed  man  in 
the  skins  of  beasts  to  put  awTay  the  shame  which  had 
made  him  afraid,  a  countless  number  of  expressions 
in  the  Word  of  God  derive  their  origin  and  signifi- 
cancy.  For  as  the  shame  of  the  naked  body  is  con¬ 
stantly  taken  in  the  Word  as  the  symbol  of  the 
shame  of  conscious  sin,  so  the  covering  of  nakedness 
is  the  favorite  expression  to  symbolize  the  forgiveness 
of  sin.  The  righteousness  of  Christ,  in  his  obedience, 
sufferings  and  death,  is  continually  set  forth  under 
the  symbol  of  a  garment.  Thou  wast  naked  and  bare ; 

I  passed  by,  and  I  spread  my  skirt  over  thee,  and 
covered  thy  nakedness ;  yea,  I  sware  unto  thee,  and 
entered  into  a  covenant  with  thee,  saith  the  Lord 
God,  and  thou  becamest  mine .  Woe  to  the  rebellious 
children,  saith  the  Lord,  that  take  counsel,  but  not 
of  me;  and,  that  cover  with  a  covering  but  not  of 
my  Spirit ,  that  they  may  add  sin  to  sin.  He  that 
covereth  his  own  sins  shall  not  prosper.  Blessed 
is  he  whose  sin  is  covered .  Thou  hast  covered  all 
their  sins.  He  hath  covered  me  in  robes  of  right¬ 
eousness.  That  I  might  win  Christ,  and  be  found 
in  him,  not  having  on  mine  own  righteousness, 


228  OF  THE  CLOTHING  OF  SKINS. 

which  is  as  filthy  rags ,  hut  the  righteousness  of  God. 
I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  white  raiment ,  that  thou 
mayest  be  clothed ,  that  the  shame  of  thy  nakedness 
do  not  appear r 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE, 


229 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

‘  \  -  S  '  '  . 

OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 

^ '  »,/.*'  v  '  '  -  >  *•  v...  *'  .*  .  *‘  C 

“And  Jehovah  God  said,  Behold,  the  man  is  become  as  one  of  us, 
to  know  good  and  evil ;  and  now,  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand  and 
take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for  ever - There¬ 

fore  Jehovah  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  till 
the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken.  So  he  drove  out  the  man; 
and  he  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden,  Cherubim,  and  a  flaming 
sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of 
life.” 

Had  man  actually  obtained  the  object  of  his  insane 
ambition  ?  Did  the  experience  of  sin  and  evil  into 
which  he  had  plunged  himself,  and  by  which  alone 
he  now  differed  from  his  former  estate,  render  him 
more  like  God,  who  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil ,  than 
he  had  been  before  ?  If  now  he  was  acquainted  with 
evil,  how  had  he  become  more  like  God  in  knowing 
good  as  well  as  evil  ?  For  to  confine  the  force  of 
expression  to  know  good  and  evil ,  to  knowing  evil 
alone,  is  a  manifest  violation  of  its  plain  and  obvious 
sense.  Or  are  these  words,  Lo  !  the  man  has  become 
as  one  of  us  to  know  good  and  evil,  words  of  high 
and  solemn  irony? 

This  figure  of  speech  which  is  called  irony,  is  much 
more  frequently  used  in  the  Scriptures  than  is  com¬ 
monly  supposed.  The  words  of  our  Lord  to  his  dis¬ 
ciples,  when  returning  from  his  agony  in  Gethsemane 


230  OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 

he  found  them  sleeping,  are  ironical.*  The  whole 
parable  of  the  unjust  steward  is  certainly  a  strain  of 
terrible  irony. f  But  it  these  examples  seem  to  be 

*  “  Sleep  on  now  and  take  your  rest :  behold,  the  hour  is  at  hand, 
and  the  son  of  man  is  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  sinners.  If  he 
had  meant  them  to  sleep  on,  would  he  have  addressed  to  them  a 
speech  which,  in  order  to  have  any  effect,  must  wake  them  ?  Also 
in  the  next  verse  he  says,  “  Arise  and  let  us  be  going  :  Behold,  he 
is  at  hand  which  doth  betray  me.”  Here  he  gives  the  same  leason 
for  their  awaking  and  going  which  he  had  just  given  for  their  sleep¬ 
ing  and  taking  their  rest — that  he  their  Lord  and  Redeemer  was 
about  to  be  betrayed.  If  this  were  a  good  reason  for  their  awaking, 
it  could  not  be  a  good  reason  for  their  sleeping.  But  if  the  former 
wrords  be  understood  as  ironical,  the  passage  is  relieved  of  all  diffi¬ 
culty.  Surely  this  is  a  proper  time  for  you  to  sleep  when  jour  Lord 
is  just  about  to  be  betrayed  and  crucified  !  Arise  and  let  us  be 
going  ;  your  Lord  is  about  to  be  betrayed. 

f  The  character  of  the  unjust  steward  should  be  carefully  observ¬ 
ed.  His  Lord  has  called  him  to  account  for  negligence  and  waste, 
and  is  about  to  deprive  him  of  his  office.  In  order  to  provide  for 
himself  now,  he  connives  with  his  master’s  debtors  to  dehaud  him. 
He  has  not  wit  enough  to  conceal  his  dishonesty.  It  is  found  out. 
This  is  the  character  held  up  as  a  model  for  the  disciples  of  Christ. 

Now  let  us  suppose  this  to  have  taken  place  before  our  eyes. 
What  is  there  in  this  man’s  conduct  to  be  commended  ?  Not  his 
fidelity  as  a  servant ;  for  he  is  too  lazy  to  wmrk,  too  proud  to  beg  ; 
and,  as  the  wiser  course,  has  betaken  himself  to  forgery  and  steal¬ 
ing.  But  it  is  his  prudent  foresight  which  is  lauded  by  his  master. 
Did  a  master  ever  think  of  praising  a  servant  for  prudent  foresight 
exercised  in  defrauding?  But  what  is  there  even  of  adroitness  or 
cunning,  to  say  nothing  ot  rational  foresight  in  what  this  man  had 
done  ?  Just  such  as  a  lawyer  would  manifest,  if,  when  a  bill  or  note 
is  put  into  his  hands  to  be  collected,  he  should  keep  to  himselt  a 
third  or  fourth  part  of  its  amount.  This  any  fool  can  do  ;  and  no 
man  in  his  senses,  when  he  should  find  his  agent  employed  in  such 
practices,  would  ever  think  of  commending  him  for  his  foresight. 

In  applying  this  parable,  the  Lord  says  to  his  own  true  disciples, 
who  have  utterly  renounced  this  world,  “  And  I  say  unto  you,  make 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE.  231 

doubtful  to  any,  there  are  others  which  do  not  admit 
of  doubt.  Rejoice ,  O  young  man ,  in  thy  youth ,  and 

to  yourselves  friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness  ;  that  when 
ye  fail  they  may  receive  you  into  everlasting  habitations.”  Now 
when  shall  the  disciples  of  Christ  fail,  so  as  to  have  need  of  anything 
that  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness  can  give  them  ?  Where  did 
the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  in  whatsoever  sense  that  expres¬ 
sion  may  be  taken,  get  everlasting  habitations  to  give  the  disciples 
of  Christ? 

That  these  are  words  of  high  and  solemn  irony  is  evident  from 
what  follows.  For  immediately,  lest  he  should  be  mistaken,  the 
Lord  drops  this  figure  of  speech,  as  is  almost  always  done  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  in  the  most  direct  and  pointed  manner  warns  his 
disciples  against  following  this  man’s  example.  “  He  that  is  faith¬ 
ful  in  that  which  is  least,  is  faithful  also  in  much  ;  and  he  that  is 
unjust  in  the  least,  is  unjust  also  in  much.  If  therefore  ye  have  not 
been  faithful  in  the  unrighteous  mammon,”  as  this  man  was  not, 

“  who  shall  commit  to  your  trust  the  true  riches  ?”  “  If  ye  have  not 
been  faithful  in  that  which  is  another  man’s,”  as  this  unjust  steward 
was  not,  “  who  shall  give  you  that  which  is  your  own  ?  No  ser¬ 
vant  can  serve  two  masters.”  “  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mam¬ 
mon.” 

By  carefully  attending  to  the  truths,  which  by  way  of  application, 
Jesus  himself  draws  from  this  parable,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is 
spoken  against  covetousness,  not  to  recommend  foresight.  For 
these  truths  can  be  drawn  from  it  only  by  understanding  that  the 
conduct  of  this  proud,  lazy,  covetous  fool,  is  held  up  as  the  very 
opposite  of  true  wisdom  and  prudence;  as  something  in  every  par¬ 
ticular  to  be  abhorred.  For  this  unjust  steward  utterly  failed  to 
gain  what  he  sought.  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  his  Lord  allowed 
him  to  keep  what  he  had  so  dishonestly  appropriated  to  himself?  or 
that,  after  such  a  specimen  of  his  fidelity,  he  restored  him  to  the 
stewardship  ?  What  then  did  he  gain  by  his  very  prudent  fore¬ 
sight  ? .  And  the  application  of  the  words,  “  The  lord  commended 
the  unjust  steward  because  he  had  done  wisely,  for  the  children  of 
this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children  of  light,” 
becomes  such  as  this,  surely  your  Lord  shall  commend  and  reward 


232  OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 

let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  and 
walk  in  the  ways  of  thy  heart  and  in  the  sight  of 
thine  eyes ;  hut  know  that  for  all  these  things,  God 
will  bring  thee  into  judgment .  The  former  part  of 
this  address  is  ironical.  In  the  latter  part  the  iiony 
is  dropped  as  usual,  that  it  may  not  be  mistaken.  It 
is  as  much  as  to  say,  Rejoice  not  O  young  man  in 
vanity ;  walk  not  in  the  ways  of  thy  heart,  nor  m 
the  sight  of  thine  own  eyes,  according  to  thine  own 
wisdom,  because  for  all  these  things  God  will  surely 
bring  thee  to  a  terrible  reckoning.  The  same  figure 
is  used  by  the  prophet  Elijah  in  his  famous  address 
to  the  priests  of  Baal.  Cry  aloud,  for  he  is  a  god , 
either  he  is  talking  or  he  is  pursuing,  or  he  is  in  a 
journey ,  or  peradvznture,  he  sleepeth,  and  must  he 
awaked .  Thus  in  the  most  powerful  manner  he  sets 

before  the  deluded  idolaters,  the  grossness  of  their 
folly  and  sin,  in  calling  upon  him  as  a  god,  who  could 
neither  talk,  nor  hunt,  nor  move  from  one  place  to 
another,  nor  even  sleep. 

you  for  such  conduct  as  this,  if  you  can  conceive  that  a  man  should 
praise  his  servant  in  such  circumstances  !  Surely  it  is  wise  for  you 
to  follow  this  man’s  example,  since  the  children  of  this  world,  who 
walk  in  utter  darkness,  are  so  much  wiser  than  the  children  of  light 
who  are  illuminated  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  walk  in  the  Wisdom 

of  God! 

This  view  is  still  further  confirmed,  if  that  were  necessary,  by 
the  fact,  that  “  the  Pharisees  who  were  covetous,”  immediately 
perceived  that  this  parable  was  spoken,  not  to  recommend  foresight, 
but  against  them,  and  they  derided  him.  This  led  him  to  follow 
them  up  with  another,  that  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus,  which  re¬ 
bukes  them  for  the  same  love  of  mammon  which  is  rebuked  in  the 
parable  of  the  unjust  steward. 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE.  233 

Also,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  God  is  frequently 
represented  as  mocking,  in  order  to  reveal,  the  gross¬ 
ness  of  that  folly  which  is  contained  in  all  the  sin  of 
man,  the  preference  of  his  own  wisdom  before  the 
Wisdom  of  God.  Because  ye  have  set  at  naught  all 
my  counsel ,  and  would  none  of  my  reproof, \  I  also  will 
laugh  at  your  calamity ,  and  mock  when  your  fear 
cometh.  When  the  heathen  plot  against  the  Lord 
and  his  Anointed,  seeking  to  cast  off  the  bands  of  his 
authority,  they  are  said  to  imagine  or  devise  vain 
things.  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall  laugh  ; 
the  Lord,  shall  have  them  in  derision. 

If  now  we  recur  to  the  account  before  given  of  what 
man  beheld  after  he  had  eaten  of  the  fruit  of  the  forbid¬ 
den  tree,  we  shall  perceive  that  his  eyes  were  opened 
indeed,  but  not  to  know  good  and  evil.  Their  eyes 
were  opened,  and  they  knew  that  they  were  naked. 
And  since  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  by  the  experi¬ 
ence  of  sin  and  evil,  man  became  in  no  respect  more 
like  God  than  he  had  been  before,  but  that  the  image 
of  God  in  him  was  marred  instead  of  being  rendered 
moie  pei  feet,  the  expression,  Lo  !  the  man  has  be¬ 
come  as  one  of  us  to  know  good  and  evil,  may,  like  the 
pieceding  examples,  be  taken  as  words  of  high  and 
solemn  irony.  They  are  spoken  to  describe  and 
make  known,  the  greatness  of  man’s  folly,  as  it  ap¬ 
peared  to  the  Wisdom  of  God.  They  reveal  the 
tiuth  that,  as  God  beheld  man’s  presumptuous  and 
insane  attempt  to  know  good  and  evil  by  his  own 
wisdom,  it  was  a  miserable  failure.  They  are  as  if 
Jeho\ah  had  said,  Indeed,  man  has  succeeded  in  be- 


234  OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 

coming  as  one  of  us  !  The  creature  of  yesterday  has 
raised  himself  to  equality  with  his  Creator  !  The 
worm  has  indeed  become  a  god  !  He  has  plunged 
himself  into  death.  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven 
O  Lucifer ,  Son  of  the  morning  !  How  art  thou  cast 
down  to  the  ground  !  Hor  thou  hast  said,  I  will  as¬ 
cend  into  heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne  above  the 
stars  of  God,  I  will  be  like  the  Most  High.  Thou 
sha.lt  be  brought  down  to  hell. 

In  order  now  that  man  may  submit  to  the  chastise¬ 
ment  inflicted  upon  him  by  God,  he  must  be  driven 
forth  from  the  garden  to  till  the  ground,  out  of  which 
he  was  taken.  The  home  and  outward  reflection  of 
his  innocent  and  holy  and  happy  life,  is  no  longer  a 
fit  abode  for  his  sinful  nature,  upon  which  has  come 
the  judgment  of  toil  and  sorrow  and  death.  The  tree 
of  life,  the  sacrament  and  symbol  of  that  spiritual  life 
which  has  been  nourished  by  the  obedience  of  his 
own  agency,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Wisdom  of 
God,  must  be  forbidden  to  him  in  order  that  by  its 
fruit  his  earthly  nature  may  not  be  freed  from  the 
punishment  of  death.  He  has  now  violated  the  truth 
of  which  it  was  the  symbol,  and  has  no  longer  any 
right  to  the  sacrament  of  it,  which  can  now  be  no¬ 
thing  better  than  a  form,  and  must  be  powerless  for 
his  spiritual  good.  He  must  not  linger  around  that 
tree,  sighing  to  retrace  his  steps,  to  undo  what  is 
past,  but  go  forth  and  submit  himself  to  all  the  evils 
of  the  earthly  lot  which  he  has  brought  upon  himself, 
that  he  may  learn  by  bitter  experience  how  inade¬ 
quate  is  the  guide  of  life  which  he  has  chosen,  to  dis- 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 


235 


tinguish  aright  between  good  and  evil.  Therefore 
Jehovah  God  drove  out  the  man. 

And  he  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden ,  Cherubim 
and  a  flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way  to  keep 
the  way  of  the  tree  of  life.  What  is  there  in  this  ex¬ 
treme  care  and  rigor  with  which  the  tree  of  life  was 
guarded  from  Adam,  which  is  of  universal  signifi- 
cancy  and  application  ?  What  is  the  truth  for  man 
as  such,  here  symbolized  ? 

In  order  to  perceive  what  this  is,  we  must  observe, 
that  innocence  once  lost,  never  can  be  recovered, 
because  it  consists  in  never  having  sinned.  The 
redeemed  saints  now  in  glory  are  not,  and  never  can 
become  innocent,  because  it  can  never  be  true  of 
them  that  they  have  not  sinned.  This  is  as  much  as 
to  say,  in  other  words,  that  man  having  lost  his  spi¬ 
ritual  life  cannot  regain  it  by  the  obedience  of  his 
own  agency.  Having  once  sinned,  and  being  left  to 
his  own  agency,  he  must  go  on  to  sin  for  ever.  For 
sin  is  something  spiritual,  and  back  of  all  actions. 
The  sin  of  Adam  even  was  back  of  his  act  of  eating 
the  forbidden  fruit.  It  was  that  state  of  heart,  that 
spiritual  disposition  from  which  this  act  arose  ;  of 
which  the  act  of  disobedience  was  but  the  outgoing 
and  manifestation.  Much  more  therefore  in  us,  and 
universally,  sin  is  that  in  the  agent  himself  of  which 
outward  sinful  acts  are  but  the  manifestation  and 
symbol.  It  is  even  back  of  the  thoughts.  Jesus  him¬ 
self  points  us  to  something  back  of  the  thoughts  as 
the  place  where  sin  originates.  Out  of  the  heart  pro¬ 
ceed  evil  thoughts.  Sin  is  therefore  that  in  the  thinker 


236  OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 

himself  of  which  sinful  thoughts  are  but  the  out¬ 
going. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  every  act  of  human  agency, 
whether  of  desire,  thought  or  volition,  reflects  upon, 
and  enters  into  the  agent  himself.  By  it  he  is  changed. 
Hence  after  the  first  sin,  he  enters  into  subsequent  agen¬ 
cy  different  from  that  which  he  was  before.  His  inward 
and  most  spiritual  character  is  changed  for  the  worse. 
He  is  vitiated,  depraved  in  his  nature.  All  his  follow¬ 
ing  acts  are  modified  in  their  character  by  the  fii  st  act 
of  sin.  After  he  has  once  conceived  evil  within  him¬ 
self,  all  that  he  can  do  by  his  own  agency  purely, 
must  partake  of  that  original  evil.  Sin  defiles  the 
agent  himself,  the  fountain  of  all  conceivable  acts, 
and  thus  defiles  all  the  stream  which  flows  from  that 
fountain.  It  corrupts  the  heart,  out  of  which  are  the 
issues  of  the  life,  and  thus  corrupts  the  whole  life. 
It  changes  the  character  of  the  will,  the  root  of  all 
actions,  and  thus  causes  all  the  fruit  to  be  changed 
for  evil.  It  perverts  the  nature  ol  the  vine,  and  thus 
perverts  the  nature  of  all  the  branches.  Hence  it  is 
utterly  impossible  for  man  to  return  to  life  by  the 
obedience  of  his  own  agency.  He  can  of  himself  do 
nothing  which  has  the  least  tendency  to  save  him 
from  his  sins.  For  all  that  he  can  do,  or  think,  or 
feel,  must  flow  out  of  a  heart  already  polluted,  de¬ 
praved,  defiled  by  sin.  And  who  can  bring  a  clean 
thing  out  of  an  unclean  ?  Without  me  ye  can  do 
nothing.  When  we  were  yet  without  strength,  in  due 
time  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly.  We  are  not  suffi¬ 
cient  of  ourselves  to  think  anything  as  of  ourselves. 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE.  237 

It  is  the  idea,  that  it  is  not  absolutely  impossible  for 
man  to  return  to  life  by  the  obedience  of  his  own 
agency  which  St.  Paul  opposes  under  the  form  of 
justification  by  works.  It  is  perhaps,  the  most  diffi¬ 
cult  of  all  things  for  man  to  receive  the  conviction, 
that,  although  some  things  may  be  less  displeasing  to 
God  than  others,  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  him  in  his 
own  strength  to  do  anything  which  is  not  tainted  with 
sm,  and  therefore  accursed  from  the  presence  of  the 
Loid.  It  is  hard  for  him  to  be  brought  wholly  to 
despair  of  his  own  agency.  And  the  loss  of  the 
feeling  and  conviction  that  sin  is  something  back  of 
all  actions  from  which  they  spring,  is  even  yet  under 
the  Gospel,  the  most  fatal  of  all  mistakes  into  which 
Christian  people  fall.  For  this  it  is  which  prevents 
men  fiom  feeling  that  it  is  sin,  in  this  spiritual  sense, 
fiom  which  they  must  be  saved  by  Christ,  if  they  are 
evei  sa\ed  at  all.  It  blinds  them  to  the  knowledge 
of  what  that  is  in  which  the  Salvation  of  the  Gospel 
consists  ;  that  it  is  to  become  holy  within  as  well  as 
without ;  to  be  like  Christ.  Hence  they  look  to  him 
as  to  one  who  has  purchased  forgiveness  for  them 
in  an  external  and  legal  sense,  rather  than  as  to  him 
who  saves  them  from  their  sinfulness.  They  are 
pi  one  to  think  that  if  they  will  do  as  well  as  they 
can,  God  will  forgive  them  where,  through  human 
infirmity,  they  do  err  and  come  short ;  and  there 
they  lest  satisfied.  As  well  might  a  man  whose 
vitals  a  cancer  is  eating  away,  be  content  when  the 
physician  tells  him  he  will  remove  some  of  its 
branches,  and  forgive  him  the  operation  necessary  to 


238 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 


eradicate  the  whole.  For  this  reason  man  seeks  to 
excuse  himsell  for  his  sin,  to  prove  to  himself  and 
others  that  he  is  not  so  much  to  blame  foi  his  tians 
gressions.  As  wisely  might  he  labor  to  excuse  him¬ 
self  for  having  taken  poison,  when  it  is  raging  m  his 
system,  instead  of  applying  to  the  antidote.  Sin  is 
not  only  that  which  brings  man  into  condemnation 
before  God.  It  is  also  a  fatal  disease  ;  it  is  poison  to 
his  nature.  It  is  death.  Myself  am  hell.  Foigive- 
ness  from  God  for  all  a  man’s  sins  in  a  legal  sense, 
announced  to  him  by  name  in  a  voice  fiom  heaven, 
can  do  him  no  manner  of  good,  except  as  the  neces¬ 
sary  means  of  purifying  his  spiritual  natuie  fiom  sin 
itself,  by  reconciling  his  heart  to  God  in  love.  Foi 
this  purpose  indeed  it  is  indispensable.  But  the  veiy 
moment  that  the  pardon  ol  sin,  in  a  puiely  legal 
sense,  becomes  the  object  of  a  mans  desiies  and 
seeking,  rather  than  deliverance  from  sin  itself,  01 
for  any  other  purpose  than  as  the  necessary  means 
of  salvation  from  sin,  it  becomes  an  idol  which  must 
lead  its  deluded  worshipper  into  shame  and  everlast¬ 
ing  contempt. 

Because  the  sin  of  man  is  something  spiritual, 
back  of  all  actions,  consisting  in  a  depraved  and 
perverted  nature  of  the  agent  himself,  which  not  only 
brings  him  under  condemnation  ol  the  lighteous 
judgment  ol  God,  but  also  partakes  of  the  natuie  ol 
a  spiritual  disease,  he  cannot  by  the  obedience  of  his 
own  agency  return  to  spiritual  life.  He  must  be 
brought  to  despair  of  helping  or  healing  himself. 
For  that  which  would  heal  is  precisely  the  thing 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM 


PARADISE. 


239 


which  is  diseased.  He  must  feel  himself  to  be  help- 
ess,  without  strength.  Until  he  feels  this,  he  is  always 
lingering  around  the  tree  of  life,  trying  to  be  saved 
by  eating  of  its  fruit.  He  is  continually  trying  to  do 
something  which  may  be  pleasing  to  God;  when 
this  is  impossible  except  to  an  innocent  and  unde- 
prayed  being.  Hence  he  is  always  baffled,  defiled 
more  and  more  by  the  conscience  of  sin.  To  de- 
stroy  this  illusion,  to  reduce  him  to  the  conviction 
and  feeling  of  his  helplessness  in  his  sins  ;  to  make 
mi  know  that  he  is  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins 
e  aw  was  given.  Feeling  this,  he  is  emptied  of 
nmself,  so  to  speak.  His  self-trust,  and  self-right¬ 
eousness,  and  all  hope  from  himself,  are  destroyed. 

I  hus  only  can  man  be  prepared  for  the  new  life 
which  is  already  prepared  for  him  in  Christ ;  and  his’ 
mind  and  hopes  turned  to  such  expressions  of  the 
Wisdom  of  God  as  the  following.  The  Lord  our 
Righteousness.  In  the  Lord  have  I  righteousness  and 
strength.  He  is  in  some  sort  forced  to  look  away 
from  himself  to  him  who  of  God  is  made  unto  us 
isdom  and  Righteousness  and  Sanctification  and 
Redemption.  He  questions  with  himself  what  those 
words  which  follow  should  mean.  Without  me  ye 
can  do  nothing.  I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches. 
Ye  are  the  body  of  Christ.  The  spirit  of  God  dwelleth 
in  you.  Ye  are  the  temple  of  the  living  God.  Christ 
in  you  the  hope  of  glory.  Christ  is  in  you,  except  ye 
be  reprobates.  It  is  God  who  worketh  in  you,  both  to 
will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure.  We  are  not  suffi¬ 
cient  of  ourselves  to  think  anything  as  of  ourselves 


240 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 


but  our  sufficiency  is  of  God.  Christ  liveth  in  me. 
The  power  of  the  truth  here  declared,  like  every 
other  truth,  is  to  be  realized  in  act  and  life,  not  other¬ 
wise  than  by  first  believing  it  upon  the  authority  of 
the  Word  of  God.  That  authority  is  to  overcome 
all  cavils  and  objections  of  the  carnal  mind.  But  as 
soon  as  it  is  believed,  that  these  words,  Christ  is  in 
you  except  ye  be  reprobates ,  do  describe  a  truth  and 
a  fact,  out  of,  and  through  the  faith  of  that  truth, 
springs  up  a  new  life,  and  a  new  strength,  which  is 
nothing  else  but  the  life  and  strength  of  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  in  man’s  soul.  The  belief  of  this  truth  is 
the  secret  of  godliness.  The  divine  energy  and 
success  of  Paul  in  the  service  of  his  master,  was  the 
unwavering  faith  of  the  truth  which  he  declares  in 
the  words,  It  is  not  I  that  live,  but  Christ  that  liveth 
in  me.  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  which 
strengthened  me.  No  man  ever  yet  successfully 
contended  with,  and  overcame  the  temptations  of 
the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil,  who  did  not  be¬ 
lieve  what  John  declares  in  the  words,  Greater  is  he 
that  is  in  you,  than  he  that  is  in  them.  No  man  can 
live  who  will  not  believe  the  truth  which  Christ  re¬ 
veals  to  him  in  the  declaration,  I  am  the  life. 

This  life  of  Christ  in  man  is  wholly  a  new  life, 
different  from,  and  in  its  perfection  inconceivably 
more  excellent  than  that  of  his  original  innocence. 
Where  sin  abounded  grace  does  much  more  abound. 
This  life  is  not  nourished  by  the  obedience  of  man’s 
agency,  as  was  the  life  of  Adam.  It  must  be  erected 
upon  the  crushed  ruins  of  man’s  agency.  It  must  be 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 


241. 


implanted  in  the  death  of  that  nature  in  which  man 
has  sinned,  and  which  is  now  depraved.  Man  must 
be  crucified  with  Christ ;  be  baptized  into  his  death , 
that  he  may  live  with  him  and  by  him.  To  establish 
and  maintain  this  new  life,  the  simple  guidance  of  the 
Wisdom  of  God  in  the  choice  between  good  and 
evil  is  not  sufficient.  To  follow  that  guidance  man 
has  now,  of  himself,  no  strength,  no  will,  no  desire. 
He  needs  a  wisdom,  a  righteousness,  a  strength,  a 
will  not  his  own,  yet  united  to  him,  and  revealed  in 
him.  He  needs  an  agency  revealed  in  him  which 
is  not  his  own,  to  choose  and  obey  for  him.  This 
is  Christ  in  man  who  chooses  and  obeys,  of  whose 
obedience  all  that  is  good  in  man’s  affections, 
thoughts,  volitions  and  actions,  is  but  the  conse¬ 
quence,  the  outgoing  and  manifestation.  He  brings 
into  man  his  own  perfect  everlasting  righteousness , 
that  unto  him  might  be  all  the  praise  and  glory  of 
salvation.  This  is  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  ol 
man.  '  This  in  its  perfection  is  salvation  from  sin, 
and  there  is  no  other. 

Now,  the  tree  of  life  from  which  Adam  was  shut 
out,  stood  fast  beside  the  tree  ot  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil.  It  was  the  sacrament  and  symbol  of 
]iis  life  of  innocence,  whose  joy  was  the  consequence 
and  reward  of  the  obedience  of  his  own  agency  unto 
the  guidance  of  the  Wisdom  of  God,  in  his  choice 
between  good  and  evil.  That  file  was  lost  past  all 
hope  of  redemption.  Innocence  and  the  fruit  ot  in¬ 
nocence  had  perished  for  ever.  Man  must  not  linger 

around  that  tree  hoping  to  derive  any  spiritual  bene- 

11 


242 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 

fit  from  its  fruit.  To  eat  of  it  now  can  be  nothing  to 
him  but  a  form  of  obedience.  He  must  turn  away 
his  eyes  from  it.  Every  hope  of  life  by  his  own 
obedience  must  be  rooted  out  of  his  heart,  before  he 
will  humble  himself  to  receive  the  free  gilt  ol  salva¬ 
tion  through  the  obedience  ol  another,  for,  and  in 
him.  He  must  submit  himself  to  the  sentence  of 
death  which  has  been  pronounced  upon  him ;  must 
be  baptized  into  death  in  a  spiritual  sense,  m  order 
that  he  may  live.  Now  he  must  look  to  other  sym¬ 
bols  to  learn  how  he  may  receive  a  new  life,'  In 
the  agony  and  flowing  blood  of  the  innocent  animal, 
in  its  flesh  consumed  with  fire  upon  the  altar  of  God 
—in  these  he  must  find  the  symbol  of  the  truth  that 
only  in  being  baptized  into  the  death  of  the  innocent 
Lamb  of  God  can  he  have  life.  But  so  unconquer¬ 
able  is  now  his  delusion  and  depravity  that  he  and 
all  his  posterity  will  be  continually  seeking  to  return 
to  life  through  the  outward  form  of  obedience.  To 
warn  him,  and  through  this  symbol,  all  his  posterity, 
against  this,  which  must  always  be  fatal ;  to  teach 
man  that  to  return  to  life  by  the; way  of  the  obedi¬ 
ence  of  his  own  agency  is  for  ever  impossible ;  that 
the  attempt  to  do  it  must  be  fatal  to  his  only  hope  of 
life;  the  cherubim  and  the  flaming  sword  which 
turned  every  way,  were  set  to  guard  the  way  of  the 
tree  of  life.  By  this  fiery  sword,  must  every  one 
who  seeks  to  be  justified  by  his  own  works,  to  obey 
by  his  own  strength,  to  walk  by  his  own  light,  to  live 
by  his  own  life,  be  slain  and  consumed. 


OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 


243 


From  this  life  nourished  and  maintained  by  the 
obedience  of  his  own  agency  man  must  look  away 
to  the  new  righteousness  and  the  new  life,  which  must 
be  generated,  nourished  and  perfected  by  the  indwell¬ 
ing  in  him  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  This  life  is  not 
only  more  excellent  than  all  that  he  has  lost,  but  it  is 
sure  to  all  the  seed.  For  the  Spirit  of  Christ  enters 
into  a  unity  with  the  spirit  of  the  believer,  so  intimate 
and  vital,  that  the  two  are  properly  said  to  be  one. 
He  that  is  joined  unto  the  Lord  is  one  spirit  with  him. 
Jesus  himself  declares  to  his  disciples  that  they  are 
one  with  him,  as  he  is  one  with  the  Father.  Because 
I  live  ye  shall  live  also.  All  glory  be  to  his  holy 
name  !  It  is  just  as  impossible  for  them  to  die,  as  it 
is  for  him.  This  life  therefore  cannot  be  lost  as  was 
the  former  in  Adam.  It  depends  not  upon  the  falli¬ 
bility  of  man’s  discernment  between  good  and  evil ; 
nor  upon  the  mutability  of  his  will.  It  depends  not 
upon  man’s  weakness  or  strength.  The  covenant  is 
well  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure.  The  mercies  of 
David  are  sure.  It  depends  upon  the  choice  and 
obedience  of  him  who  has  united  himself  with  his 
people,  so  as  to  become  one  with  them ;  of  him 
whose  wisdom  cannot  err,  whose  faith  cannot  fail, 
and  whose  strength  has  already  overcome  all  his  and 
our  enemies.  Therefore  it  is  that  when  this  symbol, 
the  tree  of  life,  is  introduced  again  in  the  close  of  the 
history  of  humanity,  now  saved  from  sin,  it  stands  in 
the  midst  of  the  street  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  come 
down  from  heaven  to  earth,  on  either  side  of  the 


244  OF  THE  BANISHMENT  FROM  PARADISE. 


river  of  life,  which  issues  out  of  the  throne  of  God 
and  the  Lamb,  and  beside  it  is  no  longer  the  tree 

OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL. 


THE  END. 


PUBLISHER  AND  BOOKSELLER, 

Corner  of  Park  Row  and  Spruce  Sts.,  opposite  City  Hall, 

NEW  YORK, 

PUBLISHES  AMONG  OTHERS  THE  FOLLOWING*. 


CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH’S  WORKS. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

BY  MRS.  HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE, 

AND  A  PORTRAIT  OF  THE  AUTHORESS. 

2  Vols.  Svo., 

WITH  SEVERAL  ILLUSTRATIONS, 
ENGRAVED  EXPRESSLY  FOR  TPIE  WORK. 

The  Publisher  invites  the  attention  of  the  public  to  this 
new  Edition  of  one  of  the  most  popular  and  useful  writers 
ofthepresent  age.  It  contains  upwards  of  1500  large  octavo 
pages,  and  nearly  thirty  different  productions;  several  of 
which  in  prose  and  poetry,  make  their  first  appearance  in 
our  country  in  this  edition.  All  her  volumes,  excepting 
a  few  juveniles  unsuited  to  a  Standard  Edition,  are  includ¬ 
ed  in  this,  making,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  complete 
Edition  of  the  Works  of  Charlotte  Elizabeth. 

To  the  attractions  of  our  former  Editions  we  have  added 
several  engravings  from  steel,  got  up  expressly  for  the 
work,  as  Illustrations  and  Embellishments. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Tonna  has  awakened  a 
new  interest  in  her  writings.  Among  her  last  labors  as  an 
authoress,  was  the  preparation  for  the  press  of  Judeea 
Capta.  This  we  received  from  Charlotte  Elizabeth  in 
manuscript,  in  advance  of  its  publication  in  England,  for 
this  Edition  of  her  works,  which  has  her  express  endorse¬ 
ment,  and  is  the  only  one  in  this  country  from  which  she 
has  derived  any  pecuniary  benefit. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

“  Charlotte  Elizabeth’s  Works  have  become  so  univer¬ 
sally  known,  and  are  so  highly  and  deservedly  appreciated 
in  this  country,  that  it  has  become  almost  superfluous  to 
praise  them.  "  We  doubt  exceedingly  whether  there  has 
been  any  female  writer  since  Hannah  More,  whose  works 
are  likely  to  be  so  extensively  read  and  so  profitably  read 
as  hers  She  thinks  deeply  and  accurately,  is  a  great  an¬ 
alyst  of  the  human  heart,  and  withal  clothes  her  ideas  in 
most  appropriate  and  eloquent  language,  lhe  present 
edition,  unlike  any  of  its  predecessors  in  this  country,  is 
in  octavo  form,  and  makes  a  fine  substantial  book,  which, 
both  in  respect  to  the  outer  and  inner,  will  be  an  ornament 
to  any  library.” — Albany  Argus. 

“  These  productions  constitute  a  bright  relief  to  the 
bad  and  corrupting  literature  in  which  our  age  is  so 
prolific,  full  of  practical  instruction,  illustrative  of  the 
beauty  of  Protestant  Christianity,  and  not  the  less  abound¬ 
ing  in  entertaining  description  and  narrative.”  Journal 
of  Commerce. 

“  In  justice  to  the  publisher  and  to  the  public,  we  add 
that  this  edition  of  Charlotte  Elizabeth’s  Works  will  form 
a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  Christian  and  family  Libra¬ 
ry.”'—  Christian  Observer. 

(i  We  experience  a  sense  of  relief  in  turning  from  the 
countless  small  volumes,  though  neat  and  often  ornate, 
that  the  press  is  constantly  throwing  in  our  way,  to  a 
bold,  substantial-looking  octavo  of  600  pages,  in  plain 
black  dress,  with  a  bright,  cheerful  countenance,  such  as 
the  volumes  before  us.  Ot  the  literary  characteristics  of 
Charlotte  Elizabeth  we  have  had  frequent  occasion  to 
speak.  Her  merits  and  defects  are  too  well  known  to 
need  recapitulation  here.” — Newark  Daily  Advertiser. 

This  third  volume  completes  this  elegant  octavo  edition 
of  the  works  of  this  popular  and  useful  author.  The 
works  themselves  are  so  well  known  as  not  to  need  com¬ 
mendation.  The  edition  we  are  disposed  to  speak  well 
of.  It  is  in  clear  type,  online  paper,  and  makes  a  beauti¬ 
ful  series.  It  is,  moreover,  very  cheap.” — jYew  York 
Evangelist. 


WE  ALSO  PUBLISH  THE  FOLLOWING  OF  CHARLOTTE  ELIZ¬ 
ABETH'S  WORKS,  IN  UNIFORM,  NEAT  I8m0.  VOLS., 
VARYING  FROM  25  TO  50  CENTS  PER  VOL. 


Books  Published  and  for  Sale  by  M.  IV.  Dodd. 


THE  ATTRACTION  OF  THE  CROSS. 

The  Attraction  of  the  Cross,  designed  to  illustrate  the 
leading  Truths*  Obligations  and  Hopes  of  Christianity. 

By  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.  12mo.  Fourth  edition. 

We  are  not  surprised'  to  hear  that  Mr.  Dodd,  the  publisher,  has  al¬ 
ready  issued  the  third  edition  of  the  Attraction  of  the  Cross,  by  the  Rev. 

Dr.  Spring.  It  is  the  ablest  and  most  finished  production  of  its  author, 
and  will  undoubtedly  take  its  place  In  that  most  enviable  position  in  the 
family,  as  a  volume  of  standard  reading,  to  be  the  comfort  of  the  aged 
and  the  guide  of  the  young.  We  commend  it  as  one  of  the  most  valua¬ 
ble  issues  of  the  press.” — N.  Y.  Observer. 

“  This  is  no  ordinary,  every-day  volume  of  sermons,  but  the  rich, 
ripe  harvest  of  a  cultivated  mind — the  result  of  long  and  systematic 
devotion  to  the  proper  work  of  the  Christian  ministry.  We  regard  Dr. 
Spring  as  one  Of  the  most  accomplished  preachers  of  the  country.  We 
never  heard  him  preach  a  weak  discourse  ;  and  whenever  he  appears 
from  the  press,  it  is  with  words  of  wisdom  and  power.  A  careful  perusal 
of  this  admirable  book  has  afforded  us  great  pleasure.  We  do  not  won¬ 
der  to  find  it  so  soon  in  a  third  edition.  It  will  have  a  lasting  reputa¬ 
tion.” — Baptist  Memorial. 

a  This  volume,  which  we  announced  two  weeks  ago,  and  which  we  then 
predicted  would  prove  to  be  the  most  excellent  and  valuable  work  yet 

written  by  Dr.  Spring,  has  more  than  equalled  our  expectations . 

We  trust  that  every  family  in  our  land  will  read  this  precious  work, 
which  illustrates  so' beautifully  and  attractively  the  leading  truths,  ob¬ 
ligations  and  hopes  of  Christianity,  as  reflected  from  the  Cross  of 
Christ.” — Albany  Spectator. 

“  We  mistake  ‘if  this  neatly-printed  volume  does  not  prove  one  of  the 
most  attractive  religions  works  of  the  day.  It  presents  the  practical 
truths  of  religion,  which  all  ought  to  know,  free  from  the  spirit  of  sect¬ 
arianism  or  controversy.  The  book  is  prepared  for  permanent  use,  and 
bids  as  fair,  perhaps,  as  auy  book  of  the  kind  in  our  times,  to  live  and 
speak  long  after  the  author  shall  have  gone  to  test  the  realities  he  has 
so  eloquently  described.'”— Journal  of  Commerce. 

u  Dr.  Spring’s  new  work,  which  we  had  occasion  recently  to  announce, 
is  very  highly  commended  elsewhere.  A  New- York  letter  in  the  Boston 
Traveller  thus  introduces  it  to  -notice ‘  A  new  work  of  Dr.  Spring, 

«  The  Attraction  of  the  Cross,”  has  been  published  by  M.  W.  Dodd,  of 
this  city.  ,  .  .  “  The  Attraction  of  the  Cross”  is  destined  to  live  among 
the  very  best  productions  of  the  church  with  which  its  respected  author 
is  connected.  The  style  is  remarkably  pure,  the  arrangements  of  the 
topics  lucid  and  methodical,  and  the  arguments  addressed  with  great 
force  to  the  reason  and  conscience.  It  will  stand  by  the  side  of  Dod¬ 
dridge’s  Rise  and  Progress,”  “  Wilberforce’s  View,”  or  the  Way  of 
Life,”  in  the  libraries  of  future  generations.’  Newark  Daily  Aclv. 

u  None  will  wonder  at  the  rare  success  which  this  volume  has  won, 
who  have  read  it.  For  comprehensiveness  of  views,  beauty  of  style  and 
excellence  and  fervor  of  devotional  feeling,  few  works  have  lately  ap¬ 
peared  that  surpass  it.”— Neic-York  Evangelist. 

a  The  grand  relations  of  the  Cross,  its  holy  influences,  its  comforts  and 
its  triumphs,  are  here  exhibited  in  a  manner  cheering  to  the  heart  of 
the  Christian.  And  the  perusal  of  this  book  will,  we  venture  to  say, 
greatly  assist  and  comfort  the  children  of  God. .  .  .’’ — Presbyterian. 


Books  Published  and  for  Sale  by  M.  XV.  Dodd. 


DR.  RICHARD’S  LECTURES. 

Lectures  on  Mental  Philosophy  and  Theology.  By  James 
Richards ,  D.D.  Late  Professor  in  Auburn  Theological 
Seminary.  With  a  Sketch  of  his  Life.  By  Samuel  H. 
Gridley.  And  a  finely  engraved  likeness.  8vo. 

“  For  natural  vigour  of  mind,  practical  wisdom,  fervent  piety,  and  un¬ 
wearied  diligence,  both  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  and  teacher  of  Theo¬ 
logy,  the  professor  of  Theology  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Auburn 
stood  deservedly  high  in  the  estimation  of  all  who  knew  him  or  his  writ¬ 
ings.  The  discussions  in  this  volume  relate  to  some  of  the  most  profound 
and  difficult  subjects,  yet  are  distinguished  for  great  clearness  of  method, 

strength  of  thought  and  simplicity  of  style .  We  only  regret  that 

the  taste  for  lighter  reading  will  probably  exclude  this  volume  from  the 
libraries  of  those  who  most  need  it.  To  students  in  Theology,  and  think¬ 
ing  laymen,  it  presents  strong  allurements,  and  will  abundantly  compen¬ 
sate  for  the  time  of  more  than  a  single  reading.” —  Com.  Adv. 

CHRISTIAN  IMPERFECTION. 

Lectures  on  the  Moral.  Imperfection  of  Christians.  De¬ 
signed  to  show  that  while  sinless  perfection  is  obligatory 
on  all,  it  is  attained  by  none.  By  Seth  JVilliston,  D.L. 
IS  mo. 

“  This  is  a  work  which  will  repay  many  a  reading.  In  force  of  reason¬ 
ing,  felicity  of  illustration,  and  power  of  application  and  conclusion,  it 
will  commend  itself  to  the  strongest  intellect;  while  the  Christian  will 
be  convinced,  that  the  Rev.  author,  instead  of  lowering  the  standard  of 
divine  graces  and  duties,  raises  it  to  the  highest  point  of  Christian  excel¬ 
lence  and  to  t  he  perfections  of  God,  so  that  the  true  disciple  of  Christ  will 
be  led  to  bumble  himself  before  God,  and  repent  daily  in  dust  and  ashes, 
of  his  involuntary  sitis  of  omission  and  commission.” — Alb.  Spectator. 

KEVINS’  SERMONS. 

Sermons.  By  the  late  William  JYevhis,  D.  D.  With  a 
■  finely  engraved  portrait.  12mo. 

UNION  TO  CHRIST. 

By  Rev.  R.  Taylor.  18mo. 

NON-CONFORMITY  TO  THE  WORLD, 

BY  THE  RENEWING  OF  THE  MIND. 

By  Rev.  G.  JY.  Judd.  32mo. 

FRAGMENTS; 

FROM  THE  STUDY  OF  A  PASTOR. 

By  Gardiner  Spring,.  D.  D.  12mo. 

rr 

a 


Books  Published  and  for  Sale  by  M.  W.  Dodd. 


R  T, 


PiLOTTE  ELIZABE1 


jJ5$ 
is  O 


IN  18mo.  VOLUMES. 

JUDAH'S  LION. 

“  Tit  a  sprightly,  well-written  narrative,  containing  scenes  of  high  dra¬ 
matic  interest;  it  portrays  tlie  character  and  hopes  of  the  Jews  in  their 
distortion  and  points  to  the  means  which  may  De  blessed  in  restoring 
them  S the fifth  of  Abraham,  in  the  true  Messiah P-Phila.  Observer. 

'“Individuality  of  character  is  faithfully  preserved,  and  every  one  is 
necessary  to  the  plot.  The  reader  will  find  in  this  book  much  informa¬ 
tion  that  he  can  only  find  elsewhere  by  very  laborious  researen  Char- 
lotte  Elizabeth  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  national  restoration  of  the  Jews 
to  the  possession  of  Palestine,  but  believes  they  will  previously  be  con¬ 
verted^  Christianity.  We  advise  our  friends  not  to  take  up  this  book 
until  they  can  spare  time  for  the  perusal ;  because,  if  ^ey  commence  it 
will  require  much  self-denial  to  lay  it  down  until  it  is  fairly  read 
through.77 — Christian  A.dv*  and  Join  • 

THE  FLOWER  GARDEN. 

A  collection  of  deeply  interesting  Memoirs,  beautifully 
illustrated  under  the  similitude  of  flowers. 

CAUSES 


SECOND  j 

OK,  UP  AND  BE  DOING. 

“We  consider  this  little  volume  before  us  one  of  the  best  practical 
works  from  the  pen  of  this  popular  writer.  It  presents  a  series  of  mter- 
estimr  illustrations  of  the  efficacy  of  that  faith  which  looks  above  and 
beyond  second  causes,  and  relies  for  support  on  the  word  and  promises 
of  “God.”—  Christian  Observer. 

FALSEHOOD  AND  TRUTH. 

a  a  beautiful  and  instructive  volume,  worthy  to  be  put  into  the  bands 
of  nil  children  and  youth,  as  a  choice  token  of  parental  solicitude  for 
their  preservation  from  insidious  errors,  and  the  establishment  ot  the 
truth  Is  it  is  in  Jesus.  Few  there  are  indeed  of  any  age  who  can  lead  it 
without  equal  profit  and  pleasure.”— Boston  Recorder. 

CON  FORM  STY. 

«  v/e  read  this  little  volume  with  great  and  unqualified  satisfaction. 
We  wish  we  could  induce  every  professor  of 

Wh  renutation  as  a  very  accomplished  and  superior  writer,  and  be 

SncTadLate  of  Evaagolica!  made 

ential  upon  the  whole  life  and  conduct.”— Epis.  KeCoram  , 


O 


Books  Published  and  for  Bale  by  M.  IF.  Dodd. 


THE  DESERTER. 

“  We  have  never  (we  speak  advisedly)  read  a  story  that  more  entirely 
enchained  us  than  this.  We  are  not  quite  sure  how  much  of  it  is 
fancy,  and  how  much  fact ;  but  we  rather  suppose  that  the  outline  is 
veritable  history,  while  the  filling  up  may  have  been  drawn  partly  from 
the  author’s  imagination.  The  principal  hero  of  the  story  Is  a  young 
Irishman,  who  was  lead  through  the  influence  of  one  of  his  comrades, 
to  enlist  in  the  British  Army,  contrary  to  the  earnest  entreaties  of  his 
mother,  and  who  went  on  from  one  step  to  another  in  the  career  of  crime 
till  he  was  finally  shot  as  a  deserter  :  though  not  till  after  he  had  practi¬ 
cal  lv  embraced  (he  Gospel.  The  account  of  the  closing  scene  is  one  of 
'.he  finest  examples  of  pathetic  description  that  we  remember  to  have  met 
vith.  The  whole  work  illustrates  with  great  beauty  and  power  the 
lownward  tendencies  of  profligacy,  the  power  of  divine  grace  to  subdue 
the  hardest  heart,  and  the  encouragement  that  Christians  have  never 
to  despair  of  the  salvation,  even  of  those  who  seem  to  have  thrown 
themselves  at  the  greatest  distance  from  divine  mercy.”— Albany  Daihj 

Citizen.  . 

“  This  is  one  of  the  happiest  efforts  of  this  exceedingly  popular  writer. 
Its  great  aim  appears  to  be  to  exhibit  the  truly  benevolent  influence  of 
real  piety  upon  the  heart  of  man,  as  well  as  the  degrading  na  ture  of  sin. 
The  narrative  is  admirably  sustained — the  waywardness  of  the  unre¬ 
generate  exhibited  in  living  colors,  and  so  interspersed  with  sketches  of 
the  ‘soldier’s  life,’  as  to  add  a  thrilling  interest  to  the  whole.  It  forms 
a  neat  library  volume  of  near  i250  pages,  and  is  handsomely  printed  and 
bound  in  cloth.” — Auburn  .Journal. 

“  One  of  the  happiest  productions  of  the  author.  The  narrative  is 
well  sustained,  and  the  personages  and  character  are  true  to  nature  ” 
—  Commercial  Advertiser. 

COMBINATION. 

“  This  is  a  tale,  founded  on  facts,  from  the  gifted  pen  of  Charlotte  Eliz¬ 
abeth.  It  is  well  written,  and  contains  the  very  best  of  advice.  It  lays 
down  with  great  force  the  mighty  truth,  that  without  Religion  there 
can  be  no  virtue  ;  and  that  without  the  fear  and  love  of  God.  man  will 
inevitably  be  dashed  on  the  rocks  of  irredeemable  ruin.  Religion  is  the 
Sheet  Anchor,  the  only  protection  to  hold  by  in  the  hour  of  violent 
temptation  ;  but  if  that  be  lost,  all  is  over.  Such  little  works  as  these 
are  eminently  calculated  to  produce  a  vast  amount  of  good  ;  and  there¬ 
fore  let  the  heads  of  families  place  them  upon  their  table  for  the  benefit 
of  their  children. 

“  In  no  better  way  could  an  evening  be  spent  than  by  having  it  read 
aloud,  that  a  warning  may  be  taken  from  the  folly  of  others,  and  that 
the  course  which  has  led  them  to  ignominy  and  disgrace  may  be  most 
carefully  avoided.” — Boston  American  Traveller 

THE  DAISY— THE  YEW  TREE, 

Chapters  on  Flowers. 

Three  most  delightful  little  volumes,  made  up  in  part  from 
her  very  popular  Flower  Garden  Tales  for  those  who  prefer 
them  in  smaller  volumes 


Books  Published  am d  for  Sale  by  M.  W.  Dodd . 


CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH’S  WORKS - CONTINUED. 


WRONGS  OF  WOMEN. 

Part  I.  .  4  Milliners  and  Dressmakers  TI.  £  The 
Forsaken  Home;’  III.  4  The  Little  Pin-Headers  ; 
IV.  4  The  Lace  Runners.’ 

«  Is  now  published  in  handsomely  hound  volumes  hy  M.  W.  Dodd. 
These  are  the  most  popular  and  intensely  interesting  stories  from  the 
ever-moving  pen  of  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  and  we  are  desirous  to  see  them 
widely  read.  They  are  eminently  calculated  to  awaken  sympathy  for 
the  oppressed  and  the  poor,  and  we  therefore  take  pleasure  in  calling  to 
them  the  attention  of  our  kind-hearted  readers.”— N.  Y.  Observer. 

“  This  volume  contains  Charlotte  Elizabeth’s  most  graphic,  truthful, 
and  pathetic  expressions  of  the  £  Wrongs  of  Women.’  She  has  come  out 
as  the  champion  of  her  sex,  and  if  they  have  no  such  wrongs  to  be  re¬ 
dressed  in  this  country,  they  have  thousands  who  sympathize  with  their 

enslaved  sisters  in  Great  Britain.” — lb. 

“The  authoress  of  the  ‘Wrongs  of  Women/  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  has 
portrayed  them  in  terms  of  exquisite  pathos  and  heart-moving  tender¬ 
ness.  Eloquently  and  forcibly  has  she  denounced  the  inhuman  policy 
out  of  which  they  have  grown;  and  with  all  the  susceptibilities  and 
overwhelming  influences  of  woman’s  affections,  she  approaches  the  su 
ieot  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  bring  some  alleviation,  some  mitigation 
of  the  mental  and  physical  degradation  of  her  sex.” —American  ( Boston ) 
Traveller. 

DANGERS  AND  DUTIES. 

“  This  volume  is  full  of  thrilling  interest  and  instruction.  Those  who 
commence,  will  not  be  content  till  they  have  finished  it,  and  they  will 
find  instruction  presented  in  a  form  so  irresistibly  attractive  and  en¬ 
chanting,  that  they  will  read  it  through,  and  wish  it  longer  still.  — 
Christian  Advocate. 

PASSING  s  HOUGH  FS. 

u  ]7ew  volumes  of  156  18mo  pages,  contain  a  greater  amount  of  valuable 
thought  happily  arranged  to  secure  attention  and  promote  reflection. 
The  anecdote  of  George  III.,  p.  53,  is  new  to  us,  as  are  indeed  several 
other  illustrations,  but  they  are  striking  and  beautiful.  Books  like  this 
cannot  be  too  widely  circulated  nor  too  frequently  read.  They  supply 
heavenly  aliment  to  the  weak,  useful  medicine  to  the  sick,  and  sate  sti 
mulus  to  the  healthy  and  the  strong.”— Boston  Recorder. 


We  also  publish  in  elegant  library  style,  illustrated  with 
Steel  Engravings,  what  to  all  intents  and  purposes  may  be 
considered  a  complete  edition  of  the  Works  of  this  popu¬ 
lar  Authoress.  The  edition  is  comprised  in  upwards  of 
1500  large  octavo  pages. 

3 


Books  Published  and  for  Sale  by  M.  IV.  Dodd. 


JUD/EA  CARTA. 

‘Judaea  Capta,’  the  last  offering  from  the  pen  of  this  gifted  and  pop¬ 
ular  writer,  will  be  esteemed  as  one  of  her  best  works.  It  is  a  graphic 
narrative  of  the  invasion  of  Judea  by  the  Roman  legions  under  Vespa¬ 
sian  and  Titus,  presenting  affecting  views  of  the  desolation  of  her  towns 
and  cities,  by  the  ravages  of  iron-hearted,  bloodthirsty  s-oldiers,  and  of 
the  terrible  catastrophe  witnessed  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
The  narrative  is  interspersed  with  the  writer’s  views  of  the  literal  tut 
filment  of  prophecy  concerning  the  Jews,  as  illustrated  in  their  extra¬ 
ordinary  history,  and  with  remarks  contemplating  their  returning  pros- 
perity.  Iler  occasional  strictures  on  the  history  of  the  apostate  Josephus, 
who  evidently  wrote  to  please  his  imperial  masters,  appear  to  have 
been  well  merited.  The  work  is  issued  in  an  attractive  and  handsome 
volume.” — Christian  Observer. 

“If  the  present  should  prove  to  be  Charlotte  Llizabeth  s  last  work, 
she  could  not  desire  to  take  her  departure  from  the  field  of  literature 
with  a  better  grace  ;  and  we  doubt  not  that  it  will  be  considered,  if  not 
the  best,  yet  among  the  best  of  her  productions.  It  is  full  ol  scripture 
truth  illustrated  by  the  charm  of  a  most  powerful  eloquence  ;  and  no 
one  we  should  suppose,  could  read  it  without  feeling  a  fresh  interest 
in  behalf  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  a  deeper  impression  of  the  truth 
and  greatness,  and  ultimate  triumph  of  Christianity.” — Albany  Daily 

“  This  volume  contains  a  description  of  some  of  the  most  terrific 
scenes  of  which  this  earth  has  been  the  theatre.  Rut  instead  of  con 
templating  them  merely  as  a  part  of  the  world’s  history,  it  takes  into 
view  their  connection  with  the  great  scheme  of  Providence,  and  shows 
bow  the  faithful  and  retributive  hand  of  God  is  at  work  amidst  the 
fiercest  tempest  of  human  passion.  The  work  contains  no  small  por¬ 
tion  of  history,  a  very  considerable  degree  of  theology,  and  as  much 
beautiful  imagery  and  stirring  eloquence  as  we  olten  find  within  the 
same  limits.  Those  who  have  the  other  works  from  the  same  pen 
will  purchase  this  almost  of  course  ;  and  they  need  have  no  fear  that 
it  will  disappoint  any  expectation  which  its  predecessors  may  ha\e 
awakened.” — Albany  Religious  Spectator. 


Also  just  published — 

44 THE  CHURCH  VISIBLE  IN  ALL  AGES.’’ 

A  work,  making  attraction  to  the  youthful  as  well  as  the 
more  mature  mind,  a  deeply  interesting  and  important  subject. 


All  the  foregoing  are  printed  on  clear,  white  paper,  and 
bound  to  match,  making  an  attractive  and  beautiful  set  of 
books.  They  are  sold  in  sets  or  separately,  varying  from 
25  to  50  cents  per  volume.  When  purchased  for  Sabbath 
Schools,  a  liberal  deduction  is  made  from  the  above  prices. 

(8) 


Books  Published  (and  for  Bale  by  JSl.  IV.  Dodd. 


(N  ADDTION  TO  TIIE  FOREGOING  IS  ALSO  PUBLISHES?, 

MEMOIRS  OF  REV.  JOHN  WILLIAMS, 

Missionary  to  Polynesia.  By  Rev.  Ebenezer  Prout,  of  Hal¬ 
stead.  1  vol.  l2mo. 

“Mr.  Dodd  has  published  a  fine  edition  of  Prout’s  Memoirs  of  Rev 
John  Williams,  Missionary  to  Polynesia.  The  lives  of  few  men  afford 
more  ample  material  for  an  instructive  and  interesting  biography  than 
that  of  Williams.  His  ardent,  energetic,  and  successful  labor i  as  a 
Missionary  of  the  Cross,  are  almost  without  parallel.  His  self-denying 

and  eminently  prosperous  efforts  in  Polynesia  have  been  extensively 

before  the  public  in  the  ‘  Missionary  Enterprises ,  and  the  friends  of 
missions  every  where  hold  him  in  affectionate  and  melancholy  - 
membrance  as  the  •  Martyr  of  Erromanga  The  author  of  i he  Me¬ 
moir  now  published,  has,  without  drawing  largely  upon  the  fact  .  with 
which  the  Christian  public  are  already  familiar,  produced  ayolime 
of  intense  interest.  The  work  is  not  merely  the  eulogy,  but  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  active  and  efficient  life  of  a  man  whose  works  constantly 
spoke  his  praise,  even  to  the  hour  of  his  tragic  death  We  takepea- 
sure  in  commending  the  excellent  mechanical  execution  of  the  vol 

ume.” — 

MEMOIR  OF  THE  LIFE,  LABORS,  AND  EXTENSIVE 
USEFULNESS  OF  THE  REV.  CHRISTMAS  EVANS, 

A  Distinguished  Minister  of  the  Baptist  Denomination  in 
Wales. b  Extracted  from  the  Welsh  Memoir  by  David  Phil¬ 
lips.  1  vol.  l2mo.  With  portraits. 

“  One  or  two  specimens  of  the  preaching  of  this  celebrated  Welsh 
>•  iri  have  been  extensively  read  in  this  country,  and  have  been  suffi 
i  cnfro  m^rk  the  author  as  a  man  of  extraordinary  genius.  We  are 
.1  vlw  more  of  him  The  memoir  before  us  gives  a  sueemt 
glad  to  know  mo  -  ,  ,  aua  presents  the  portraiture  ot  a  man 

emineM Thet,  aod  moa,  amiable  character.  There 
Cf  great  talents  emi nen  ffieiy,^  ^  which  are  exceedingly  in- 

and  satistachry  than  any  tin  g  moir  is  a  valuable  addition  to 

Fuller’s  wort  on  printed,  anu  adorneu  with  a 

portrait of°E  rails,' tfie  »  of  which  are  We, ah  enough.”-*.  Y. 
Evangelist. 

THE  ADVANCEMENT  CF  RELIGION  THE  CLAIMS 
OF  THE  TIMES. 

By  Andrew  Reed,  D.  D.,  with  a  Recommendatory  Introduc¬ 
tion  by  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D.  1  vol.  i2mo.  . 

s,nriT1„  „nvs  U  At  the  request  of  the  publishers  I  have  paid  some 
Dr.  Spring  says,  At  1 .  with  ,he  view  of  expressing  my 
attention  to  use  work  of  Dr.  1,  vereTi(1  author  is  favorably 

known  tc^the^churchej  of  thi^  couhtry,  and  ih's  work  win  Oe,r.«. 
nothing  from  his  reputation.  f-g. 


Books  Published  and  for  Sale  by  AT.  W.  Doda. 


THE  BOOK  THAT  WILL  SUIT  YOU  5 

Or  a  Word  for  Every  One.  By  Rev.  James  Smith,  Author  oi 
“  Believer’s  Daily  Remembrancer,”  &c. 

“  An  elegant  little  hand  book  of  some  300  pages  16mo.,  and  by  an  En 
dish  author  Its  contents  are  a  rare  selection  of  topics,  treated  briefly 
o  suit  the  circumstances  of  those  who  have  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes 
,o  spend  in  reading,  which  it  would  be  wicked  to  throw  away,  and  yet 
Jiscouraging  to  commence  a  heavier  volume.  *  The  Successful  Mo 
mer,’  ‘The  Child’s  Guide,’  ‘ The  Husband’s  example,’  ‘The  Wife’s 
Rule,’ — these  are  some  of  the  topics  taken  promiscuously  fr<  m  the 
book  ;  and  they  show  the  author’s  mind  to  be  travelling  in  the  right  di 
rection,  viz.:  towards  the  theory  of  life’s  daily  practice.  We  hope 
that  the  time  is  near  when  Christian  parlors  will  be  emptied  of  ‘The 
Book  of  Fashion,’  ‘  Somebody’s  Lady’s  Book,’  etc.,  etc.,  made  up  of 
love  stories  mawkishly  told,  and  other  drivelling  nonsense ;  and  their 
places  supplied  with  works  like  the  ‘  Book  that  will  Suit  you’ — no  less 
pleasing,  and  far  more  useful.” 

GRACE  ABOUNDING  TO  THE  CHIEF  OF  SINNERS, 

In  a  faithful  account  of  the  Life  and  death  of  John  Bunyan, 
pp.  176. 

“  We  are  pleased  to  see  a  very  handsome  edition  of  this  admirable 
treatise.  It  is  just  published,  and  will  be  eagerly  sought  after  by  all 
who  admire  the  spirit  and  genius  of  this  remarkable  man  whose  ‘  Pil¬ 
grims  Progress’  stands  nearly  if  not  quite  at  the  head  of  religious  lite¬ 
rature.” 

KIND  WORDS  FOR  THE  KITCHEN  \ 

Or  Illustrations  of  Humble  Life.  By  Mrs.  Copley. 

“This  admirable  little  volume  is  the  production  of  Mrs.  Esther 
Copley,  (late  Mrs.  Hewlett.)  whose  popularity  as  an  authoress  has  long 
been  established  upon  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  welfare  of  that 
interesting  and  important  part  of  society  who  discharge  the  domestic 
duties  of  life  has  long  engaged  the  attention  of  this  distinguished  and 
accomplished  lady. 

‘■‘  We  have  read  the  ‘Kind  Words  for  the  Kitchen,’  with  a  firm  con¬ 
viction  that  it  is  the  best  work  we  have  ever  seen  in  so  small  a  com 
pass  for  its  designed  purpose  ;  it  suggests  all  that  a  sense  of  duty  would 
lead  the  head  of  a  well  regulated  household  to  advise,  and  having 
loaned  the  book  to  ladies  distinguished  for  their  judgment  and  skill  as 
heads  of  well-governed  families,  they  have  urged  its  publication  with 
a  few  omissions  of  matter  deemed  inappropriate  to  our  country. 

“  We  believe  almost  every  Christian  lady  wall  be  glad  to  place  such  a 
manual  of  sound  instruction  in  the  hands  of  her  domestics,  and  thal 
which  is  kindly  bestowed  will  generally  be  gratefully  received.  With 
an  assurance  that  the  generil  diffusion  of  this  book  would  accomplish 
a  most  valuable  service  in  binding  together  more  closely  the  interests 
of  the  employer  and  the  employed,  and  softening  down  the  asperities 
which  so  frequently  grow  out  of  the  ill  performed  duties  of  the  house¬ 
hold  sphere,  we  should  rejoice  to  know  that  this  little  volume  wai 
placed  by  the  side  of  the  Bible  in  every  kitchen  of  our  country.’ 


Books  Published  and  for  Sale  by  M.  W.  Dodd. 


With  portions  of  it  I  have  been  exceedingly  interested,  as  throwing 
together  very  important  thoughts  upon  the  most  important  topics  of 
religious  instruction,  well  arranged  and  favorably  expressed.  The 
work  evidently  cost  the  author  time,  effort,  and  prayer,  and  it  is  well 
worth  the  labor  and  solicitude  it  cost.  Whoever  reads  it  will  be  abun¬ 
dantly  compensated,  and  if  he  reads  it  with  the  spirit  with  which  it 
was  written,  cannot  fail  to  become  a  more  enlightened  and  useful 
Christian.  The  object  and  aim  of  the  writer  is  not  a  selfish  one,  but  it 
is  to  do  good.  He  takes  a  wide  range,  and  yet  having  read  the  work 
the  attentive  reader  will  find  that  the  substance  of  it  is  easily  remem¬ 
bered.  If  our  churches  and  our  ministers  would  possess  themselves 
of  its  principles  and  imbibe  its  spirit,  they  would  have  less  cause  to 
lament  the  decay  of  vital  godliness,  either  in  their  own  hearts,  their 
families,  or  their  congregations. 

“The  publisher  deserves  commendation  and  encouragement  for  the 
attractive  form  in  which  he  presents  this  volume  to  the  public,  and  I 
take  great  pleasure  in  recommending  it  to  all  who  purchase  books  for 
the  sake  of  reading  them.” 

PRAYERS  FOR  THE  USE  OF  FAMILIES;  OR  THE 
DOMESTIC  MINISTER^  ASSISTANT. 

By  William  Jay,  author  of  Sermons,  Discourses,  &c.,  &c. 
From  the  last  London  Edition.  With  an  Appendix,  con¬ 
taining  a  number  of  select  and  original  Prayers  for  partic¬ 
ular  occasions.  1  vol.  l'2mo. 

“This  volume  has  been  long  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  best  collec¬ 
tions  of  devotional  exercises  for  the  domestic  circle,  that  has  been 
published,  and  by  a  large  class  of  Christians  we  doubt  not  that  it  is 
considered  invaluable.  'The  present  edition  will  be  still  more  desirable 
to  American  Christians,  who  will  not  fail  to  thank  the  publisher  for 
the  fine  form  in  which  he  has  presented  it  ."—Courier  $  New  York 
Enquirer. 

A  GOLDEN  TREASURY  FOR  "  HREN  OF  GOD. 

Consisting  of  Select  Texts  of  the  Bible,  with  Practical  Obser¬ 
vations,  in  Prose  and  Verse,  for  every  day  in  the  year.  By 
C,  H.  V.  Bogatzky.  A  new  edition,  carefully  revised  and 
corrected.  1  vol.  l6mo. 

“This  is  a  reprint  of  a  work  written  by  a  Polish  Clergyman  more 
than  a  century  ago.  We  have  seldom  met  with  a  work  more  admir¬ 
ably  suited  to  the  religious  wants  of  families  than  the  work  before  us. 
There  is  a  lesson  for  every  day  in  the  year  ;  a  portion  of  Scripture  is 
taken  and  such  reflections  are  given  as  the  text  suggests.  Tnose  fam¬ 
ilies  who  are  in  the  laudable  habit  of  calling  their  household  together 
in  the  morning  cannot  do  better  than  procure  this  work.  The  por¬ 
tion  assigned  foi  each  morning  lesson  is  short,  but  full  of  the  true 
spirit  of  Christianity,  and  c.ould  not  fail  to  have  a  salutary  influence 
upon  tne  thoughts  and  actions  of  the  day.  It  is  got  up  in  the  style  of 
•fie-ratioe  for  which  the  publisher,  M.  W.  Dodd,  is  so  well  known. 


Bnnkq  Published  and  for  Sale  by  M.  W.  Dodd. 


SERMONS,  NOT  BEFORE  PUBLISHED,  ON  VARIOUS 
PRACTICAL  SUBJECTS. 

Bj  the  late  Edward  Dorr  Griffin,  D.  D. 

“  Dr.  Griffin  may  be  regarded  as  having  been  a  prince  among  the 
princes  of  the  American  pulpit.  He  left  a  large  number  of  sermons 
carefully  revised  and  ready  for  publication,  part  of  which  were  pul>- 
hshed  shortly  after  his  death,  but  the  greater  portion  of  which  consti¬ 
tute  the  present  volume.  They  are  doubtless  among  the  ablest  dis- 
eourses  ot  the  present  day,  and  are  alike  fitted  to  disturb  the  delusions 
of  guilt,  to  quicken  and  strengthen,  and  comfort  the  Christian,  and  to 
serve  as  a  model  to  the  theological  student,  who  would  construct  his 
discourses,  in  a  way  to  render  them  at  once  the  most  impressive,  and 
the  most  edifying.”  ’ 

A  MEMOIR  OF  THE  REV.  LEGH  RICHMOND,  A.  M. 

Rector  of  Turvey,  Bedfordshire.  By  Rev.  T.  S.  Grimshaw, 
A.  M.,  Rector  ot  Burton-Latimer,  &c.  Seventh  American 
from  the  last  London  Edition,  with  a  handsome  Portrait  on 
Steel. 


We  have  here  a  beautiful  reprint  of  one  of  the  best  books  of  its 
class,  to  be  found  in  our  language.  Such  beauty  and  symmetry  of  cha¬ 
racter,  such  manly  intelligence  and  child-like  simplicity,  such  official 
dignity  and  condescending  meekness,  such  warmth  of  zeal  united  with 
a  perception  of  fitness  which  always  discerns  the  right  thins  to  ba 
done,  and  an  almost  faultless  prudence  in  doing  it,— are  seldom  found 
combined  in  the  same  person.  It  is  a  book  for  a  minister,  and  a  book 
for  parishioners ;  a  book  for  the  lovers  of  nature,  and  a  book  for  the 
mends  of  God  and  of  his  species.  Never  perhaps  were  the  spirits  and 
duties  of  a  Christian  Pastor  more  happily  exemplified.  Never  did 
warmer  or  purer  domestic  affections  throb  in  a  human  bosom  or  exer¬ 
cise  themse  ves  more  unceasingly  and  successfully  for  the  comfort,  the 
present  well-being  and  final  salvation  of  sons  and  daughters.  From  no 

riiSSntrobTnb«7,  <  U  ,eKer  p00d,'vi11  flow  out  t0  men,  in  a  fuller,  warmer 
“f"1'  ,  *1  a  w™d>  be  was  the  author  of  the  ‘Dairyman’s  Daughter,’ 
and  the  ‘  Young  Cottager.’  8  ' 

M  be  engraved  likeness  of  Mr.  Richmond  alone  is  worth  the  cost  of 
the  work  :  as  illustrative  of  the  uncommon  benignity  that  adorned  and 
eudeared  the  man  to  his  friends  and  the  world.” 

UNCLE  BARN A BY , 

Or  Recollections  of  his  Character  and  Opinions,  pp.  31G. 

religion  of  this  book  is  good — the  moralitv  excellent  and  mo 
mode  of  exhibiting  their  important  lessons  can  hardly  be  surpassed  in 
anything  calculated  to  make  them  attractive  to  the  young  or  successful 
in  correcting  anything  bad  in  their  habits  or  morals.  There  are  some 
twenty  chapters  on  as  many  common  sayings  and  maxims  occurrences 

Ston.’*ep  ln  a  T'  anl1  ra:a  *  ofta  beneficial  to'pareaS 


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